The Nakahara Cast
by Animelover2398
Summary: What happens when a girl, Reiko, and her crazy siblings run into the crazier host club? Read to find out in this light-hearted romance-comedy as seventeen year-old Reiko tries to survive her senior year that's swirled in the chaos of her family and the host club!
1. Meet the Family!

**Hi guys, I'm back with my fourth story featuring that strong and silent host that everyone loves! That's right, I'm talking about Mori! I hope you all enjoy chapter one and come back and read chapter two, thanks!**

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"Reiko! I can't find my shoes!"

"Aika, if you had put them away last time you took them off then we wouldn't have this problem!" I yelled as I ran down the stairs to where my teary-eyed six year-old little sister was sitting all forlorn in front of the shoe closet with bare feet. "Let me look," I grumbled as I pushed Aika out of the way and began digging through the pile of shoes in the closet.

Smack! I bit my tongue as my nine year-old little brother knocked his elbow into the back of my head as he darted into the closet to grab his shoes, bumping me as he pulled out. "Ouch! Sotaru, watch it! That hurt!" I yelled as my brother ran away. I sighed as I turned back to the pile of shoes. "where are you- oh! Found one!" I said as I tossed the little pink sandle to Aika. Then, after pairing up all the miscellaneous shoes I still hadn't found Aika's other missing shoe.

"My sniff* shoe. Don't leave me behind!"

"We won't," I said with a sigh as I jammed my feet into my shoes while I called, "hey! Has anyone seen Aika's other sandle?"

"I've got it," Chizura, my fourteen year-old sister said as she tossed it to me.

"Where was it?" I asked as I shoved it onto Aika's foot.

"It was in the pantry."

"Why was it there?" Chizura just shrugged as I pulled Aika to her feet.

"Come on, girls, we're going to be late!" My fourteen year-old brother, Yoite called from the front porch.

"We're coming!" We yelled as Aika climbed onto my back and we sprinted out the door.

"Come on!" I yelled as I dashed down the sidewalk. "If we don't hurry we'll miss the train and we'll be late for Tadashi's kendo match."

The five of us ran the three blocks to the nearest metro station where we arrived just in time to dash onto the train as the doors were closing. I panted as I set Aika down in a chair. I studied my appearance in the window's reflection and straightened my long purple hair, pulling fly aways out of my hazel eyes, and then I smoothed out my shirt and skirt. Then I sat down and waited for our stop.

When we reached our stop we flooded out of the train and raced through the station, pouring out onto the sidewalk from where we bolted to the Tokyo Martial Arts Center where our brother's kendo tournament was being held. We slowed to a jog as we entered the building then we sped-walked as a shapeless amoeba through the crowd. After several "excuse me's" we reached the room where the kendo tournament was being held.

"Did we make it?" Chizura asked.

"I think so," Yoite answered as we walked around the perimeter of the room where we looked for our brother and am empty space big enough for us to fit.

"Where's Tadashi?" Aika asked.

"My feet are gonna fall off," Sotaru complained.

"There he is!" I said, pointing to our brother who was sitting in a straight row with the other students from our school.

"Hey, Reiko, why don't we sit over there?" Yoite asked pointing to an empty space close to the students from our school.

"That's perfect, let's hurry over there before somebody else takes it." We quickly dispersed and wove our way through the crowd till we reached the empty spot and collapsed in a worn-out heap.

"Tadashi!" Aika and Sotaru hollered waving their hands and jumping up and down. Tadashi turned his head towards us and gave the younger two a grin before turning back to the match at hand. We sat on the sidelines, watching the boys' matches and waiting for our brother's turn.

"Hey, when will it be Tadashi's turn?" Aika asked as she spun around in a circle with her arms flung out to the side.

"Sit down before you hit someone," I reprimanded before continuing, "he's next."

"Ugg! I hope he loses because this is boring and I want to go home," Sotaru said glumly with his chin in his hands.

"Hey, that's rude!" I said, whacking Sotaru on the back of the head.

"Be quiet! You guys are embarrassing!" Chizura hissed.

"Hey, guys, look, it's Tadashi's turn!" When Yoite said this we all clammed up and turned our attention to our brother who was facing his opponent. They both bowed to each other before taking their stances. The ref blew his whistle and Tadashi attacked. His first attack was blocked and then his opponent quickly attacked striking twice in a row but Tadashi blocked them both. Then he slammed his opponent's sword to the side before before smashing his sword against his opponents helmet, winning the match. Round two went similarly and Tadashi won the match. The boys bowed to each other and then Tadashi came over to us.

"Tadashi!" Aika and Sotaru said happily, throwing themselves at Tadashi.

"Good job," the rest of us said as he sat down next to us.

"Thanks," he said with a grin before taking a drink of water.

"Next match, Kazuki Ido from Saki High School and Takashi Morinozuka from Ouran Academy!" Said the announcer.

"Ouran? Isn't that a school for the insanely rich and snotty?" Chizura asked when she heard the name.

"Yes, it is but this guy is a Morinozuka, they're famous for their skill in kendo and the martial arts in general. This guy is probably good, right Tadashi?" Yoite asked, turning to our older brother.

"You're right," Tadashi affirmed. "we should watch this match to see how good he is, though."

We all watched the match and stared in amazement as the Morinozuka kid blocked his opponent's first blow and immediately hit him right after. Then, in the second round, he practically did the same thing, totally creaming his opponent.

"He's good," us older four breathed.

"When will you fight him?" I asked.

"Let me see," Tadashi said pulling out the match list. "Hmm, I'll only fight him if we both make it to the last round."

"Then it's highly unlikely that you'll have to face him," the twins commented.

"We'll see," Tadashi said as he handed me the paper. "It's time for the second round, wish me luck!"

"Good luck!" Aika cheered.

"Clobber him, big brother!" Sotaru said as he swung around an imaginary sword.

Tadashi gave a small laugh before heading over to where the participants were waiting. For the next hour we watched both our brother, Tadashi and the Morinozuka boy fight, win, and advance until they were the only two left.

"I can't believe it," Yoite said dumbfounded. "They both did it!"

"That just goes to show you how good they are. This will be a good match," I said with excitement mixing into my voice.

"I wonder who'll win?" Chizura commented.

"That's easy, Tadashi will win!" Sotaru said confidently.

"Yes!" Aika chimed.

"It's starting," I said as Tadashi and Mr. Morinozuka bowed to each other, then the whistle blew and the match started.

The two seamed evenly matched, both striking hard and blocking accurately. Almost as soon as the match started shouts of "go Mori!"

"Takashi, you can do it!"

"Give it your best, Mori Senpai!"

"Strike! Strike! Strike! Mori, Strike!" Echoed through the room.

I peered through the the two fighters to see a group of Ouran students, six boys and a small cluster of girls cheering the Morinozuka boy on.

"Hey, are we going to let those guys beat us?!" I asked as I stood up. "Show 'em what you've got, Tadashi! You can do it!"

Quickly my siblings stood up and shouted with me. "You can do it, Tadashi! You're the best when it comes to kendo!"

"Tadashi, you're doing great, keep it up!"

"Clobber him, Tadashi! Clobber him and win!"

"Give it your best and you'll win, Tadashi!"

Then, counting down with me fingers, we all shouted, "fight-o, Tadashi!"

With a sudden surge of strength, Tadashi knocked Morinozuka's sword to the side and quickly darted in and hit him. "Yes!" we all cheered.

"Tadashi won the first round so if he wins this round he'll win the tournament!" I said excitedly. Yoite and Chizura just nodded with huge smiles plastered to their faces while the two youngest jumped up and down. As the second round started we sat down and watched, the intensity of this round was even greater and it held everybody in the room captivated. The cheering died down as the audience became spell-bound by the fight.

"You can do it, Tadashi," I whispered.

Then the Morinozuka boy did something that I couldn't quite see but I did see Tadashi's sword flying towards Aika who was standing right in front of me. "Watch out!" Several people shouted.

Without thinking,I grabbed Aika and pulled her down onto my lap. I tried to duck, too but I wasn't fast enough; the sword hit me in the head. I felt the hard impact of the sword meeting my forehead and my vision turned fuzzy. I faintly remember lots of shouting as I brought my hand to my head and touched it, feeling something warm, wet, and kind of sticky under my fingers. Slowly, I brought my hand back down to see red staining my hand, I blinked a few times before giving into the blackness.

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 **Alright guys, that's it for chapter one, see you in chapter two hopefully!**

 **P.S. My family is moving (again) in about two weeks and we're packing everything ourselves so if updates stop it just means I haven't had access to a computer, I have every intent of finishing this story; also, updates may become sporadic for the same reason but eventually they'll become regular again, thanks for understanding!**


	2. The Ouran Students

**Alright people, here's chapter two! I'm so happy with how everyone seems to like this story already so thanks! I Especially want to thank those who followed:** Chocolover27, gothicpoet0615, DarkAngel1014, Jazzywazzy101, TheMostRandomOfRandomWriters, ThoughtlessRage, **and** naes151. **And also those who favorited my story:** Chocolover27, **and** gothicpoet0615 **.**

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My head throbbed and I groaned as I became aware of a burning aching pain in my head. My body felt heavy and I didn't want to move. _What happened?_ I thought groggily. Then with a jolt I remembered the sword flying through the air, the blood, and passing out.

When I remembered this I forced my eyes open and bolted upright despite my body's heaviness. I instantly discovered that sitting up suddenly was a bad idea as my vision swam again. I blacked out for a moment and woke up on my pillow a minute later.

"Reiko, you're awake! You had us worried there for a moment."

"Tadashi?" As I made out my brother's face hovering about a foot from mine. "Where are we?"

"We're back home."

"The guys from Ouran gave us a ride back here," Chizura interrupted. "Man, you sure did bleed a lot, Reiko. Both Aika and Sotaru were freaking out saying you were going to die and stuff- ow!" Yoite flicked Chizura between her eyes, knocking her glasses askew. "Watch the glasses!" She snapped as she fixed them.

"So where are they now?" I asked before the twins could start fighting.

"Who?" They both asked, turning their heads towards me.

With a roll of my eyes I answered, "Aika and Sotaru, who else?"

"They fell asleep at the foot of your bed. Look," Tadashi said as he helped me sit up and sure enough there were two little masses at the foot of my bed. I gave a small smile as I leaned forward and rustled my little siblings hair. "Sorry for worrying you guys." Then, leaning back, I asked, "how long was I out?"

"About forty-five minutes," Tadashi responded ."We had just gotten here when you woke up. It was so nice of those Ouran boys to offer us a ride home- oh, that's right, they're still here. Chizura, Yoite, go tell them that Reiko's awake."

"Wait! Who?"

"The guys from Ouran, Mori and his friends were really worried about you so they gave us a ride home."

"I understand that but why are they still here?"

"They wanted to make sure that you were okay so I told them that they could stay until you woke up."

I opened my mouth to protest but before I could say anything the door to my room swung open and a dusty blond haired boy flew through the door followed by a pair of red-headed twins, a short brown haired boy, a boy with black hair and glasses, and a even smaller boy with dusty blonde hair, and lastly a very tall boy with black hair who I instantly recognized as the boy my brother had been fighting.

"My dear Sleeping Beauty, we're so glad that you are okay," the tall blonde said bowing dramatically before gently grabbing my hand and kissing it. "Allow me to introduce us, Princess, I'm Tamaki Suoh."

"More like Sir Prince," Chizura whispered to Yoite who snickered at her comment.

Not hearing this, Tamaki continued, "this is Haruhi Fujioka," he said indicating the short boy with brown hair and eyes. Then turning to the red-heads, the guys with glasses, and the short blonde he said, "these are the Hitachiin twins, Hikaru and Kaoru; this is Kyoya Ohtori; and this is Mitsukuni Haninozuka, you can call him Hunny." Then turning towards the tall guy with black hair Tamaki said, "and this is Takashi Morinozuka, everyone calls him Mori."

"Yeah, the amazing kendo fighter," I said as I lifted my head and made eye contact with Mori.

When we made eye contact, Mori walked over to the side of my bed and said, "... I'm sorry that I made the sword hit you." "It's okay," I said with a weak smile. "It wasn't you fault, I just got in the way of the sword."

Mori was silent before asking, "Are you sure you're okay? That sword hit you pretty hard... You still look pale." Mori's hand gently trailed across the bandages on my forehead before resting on my cheek as he said that.

 _How can this hand be so big and yet so gentle?_ I gazed up into Mori's face and my heart skipped a beat when I realized that he was really handsome. His face had a blank expression but his eyes betrayed concern. "I'm really okay," I whispered unable to say anything else.

"You should drink some water and eat something salty," Kyoya commented. "You probably feel very weak right now, you need to get some salts and liquid into you system."

"You heard the man," Tadashi said commandingly. "Chizura, get Reiko a glass of water. Yoite, get some pretzels or saltines."

"Okay, boss," they said giving a mock salute before slipping out of the room.

The Hitachiin twins who had been lazily scanning the room the whole time pocked Haruhi in the back and said, "these people are commoners just like you but their house is way bigger and nicer than yours."

"Commoners?" Tadashi and I echoed cringing angrily at the snide, bratty comment.  
"Yes!" Tamaki said posing before snapping his fingers and giving this explanation. "Those of us born with power and status are the select elite, the special few who have a higher purpose and more influence in life; elevated above menial manual labor and bestowed with material blessings. Yes, we are the elite! Thus, people like you who have to make a name and a living for yourselves, those of you who work for us, you are the mass majority of the population and are, therefore, commoners!"

At the end of this spiel my head hurt twice as much as it had before and both Tadashi and I were at a loss for words so we just stared at Tamaki. _I guess the rich really are self-centered brats!_ "So why is Haruhi a commoner? Doesn't he go to Ouran too?"

"He's a scholarship student," Hitachiin One said.

"A brain-e-ack, in other words" Hitachiin Two added.

"These guys may be a little weird but they're harmless," Haruhi said as she walked over to Mori.

"If you say so," I said with a shrug.

"Hey, Rei-chan, do you like cake?" Hunny asked as he called Mori.

"Uh, I guess?"

"Do you want to eat cake with me sometime?"

"I will!"

All heads turned towards Aika who had, of course, woken up when cake was mentioned. Hunny giggled before saying to Aika, "that's great! What kind of cake do you like?"

"Strawberry!" She shouted gleefully.

"Great, then I'll bring strawberry cake over sometime!"

"I like chocolate!" Sotaru said waking up.

"I like mint ice cream cake," Chizura said as she returned with the water.

"What are we talking about, cake? Cause I like cappuccino," Yoite said as he returned.

 _Why are they so loud?!_ I thought angrily as I ringed and put my hand to my head. I stared at the ceiling warily and sighed. I glanced to the side to see Mori looking at me with that blank expression on his face, then he turned towards the others and said, "we should leave."

This statement caused everyone to look at me and quiet down. "We'll be leaving now," Kyoya said ushering his boisterous friends out of the room.

"Hope you feel better soon," Hunny and Haruhi said as they left the room.

"Come on, bums, let's go make dinner," the twins said pulling Aika and Sotaru out of the room.

Suddenly, it was just Tadashi, Mori, and I left in my room. "Thanks," I said turning towards Mori with a small smile. He smiled gently down at me and my heart skipped a beat again. _He looks super hot when he smiles._

Then he ruffled my hair and said, "feel better soon."

When he left I slowly brought my hand up to my head as a slight blush spread across my cheeks. "So Mori, eehh?" Tadashi asked with a mischievous/sly grin.

"Shut up!" I snapped.

Tadashi just smiled knowingly and left the room. I fell back down onto my pillow with a sigh and muttered, "brothers!"

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 **Thanks for coming back to read chapter two, I hope you liked it! Below is a short list about the Nakahara siblings' appearances.**

 **Tadashi-**

 **Age: 18**

 **Height: 5'11" (180cm)**

 **Grade: 12**

 **Looks like: Shaggy brown hair and blue eyes.**

 **Reiko-**

 **Age: 17**

 **Height: 5'5" (165cm)**

 **Grade: 12**

 **Looks like: cover photo**

 **Yoite-**

 **Age: 14**

 **Height: 5'7" (170cm)**

 **Grade: 9**

 **Looks like: Black shaggy hair and dark brown/black eyes.**

 **Chizura-**

 **Age: 14**

 **Height: 5'5" (165cm)**

 **Grade: 9**

 **Looks like: long wavy black hair and grey/blue eyes.**

 **Sotaru-**

 **Age: 9**

 **Height: 4'8" (142cm)**

 **Grade: 5**

 **Looks like: short brown and brown eyes.**

 **Aika-**

 **Age: 6**

 **Height: 4'3.5" (131cm)**

 **Grade: 2**

 **Looks like: medium length pink hair and light hazel eyes.**


	3. The Dinner Crashers

**Hey guys, thanks to all of you who have come back to read this chapter especially** rinpup14 **and** gem1244 **for favoriting my story and** rinpup14 **and** Idek1998 **for following my story** **! Here's the next installment of my story, I hope you all like it!**

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BUMP! "Hey! Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry." I looked up from my book just long enough to apologize and move around the student before sinking my nose back into my book.

"Hey, Reiko, get your nose out of that book and go pick up the others." I looked up, annoyed at being interrupted, to see an irritated Tadashi standing in front of me.

"Why should I have to do it?"

"Because I have to work tonight."

"Excuses, excuses, excuses," I muttered.

"Come on, we all take turns picking Aika and Sotaru up so just suck it up and do it."

"But I'm reading!"

"You're always reading," Tadashi countered.

I bit my lip then let out a sigh, "fine, I'll do it."

"You better hurry, then. Their club activities ended a few minutes ago."

"I know!" I snapped as I put my book away and quickly grabbed my stuff out of my locker before running out of the school.

Lucky for me, the elementary school was only two blocks from the high school on the other side of a park so I sprinted across the grass till I reached the elementary school's playground where Aika and Sotaru were playing with a group of other students. "Hey, Weirdos, it's time to go," I called.

"But we're playing!" Aika whined.

"Don't care. I have homework to do, dinner to make, and a book to read; we're leaving, _now_!" Aika muttered a few small protests but came willingly. "Hey, where's Sotaru?" I asked sharply, scanning the playground for the escapee. Soon I spotted him on the highest platform in front of the twisty blue tube slide. "Sotaru! Get down here now!"

"I can't," he responded lying on the platform, "my legs stopped working."

"I don't have time for your nonsense, get down here now!"

"Meep..." Sotaru answered with a ridiculous look on his face.

"I'm coming for you!" I said angrily as I charged the yellow slide. I ran up the slide and across the platforms till I stood towering over Sotaru. "Move, now!" Sotaru shook his head 'no.' I groaned and bent down to pick him up but he was a total dead weight having made his body limp. "You asked for it!" With a grunt, I heaved Sotaru off the platform and shoved him head first down the slide, going in after him, and pushing him out the bottom. When we reached the bottom Sotaru attempted to dart off but I grabbed him by the back of his shirt, then I scooped him up and threw him over my shoulder. "Let's go, Aika," I said leading her by the hand to the nearest metro station while Sotaru struggled on my shoulder the whole way.

Once we made it home, I helped the youngest two get started on their homework before I started dinner. I threw together some chicken fried rice and put the egg rolls in the oven before begging my homework.

I had just finished my homework and was yelling at Chizura and Sotaru to set the table when the doorbell rang. "Can somebody get that?!" I called.

"We're setting the table," Chizura said as she and Sotaru _finally_ started setting the table.

"Yoite?" I asked as I pulled the egg rolls out of the oven.

"Homework," he answered form his computer not even bothering to look up.

"Fine, I'll get it," I snapped angrily as I threw off the oven mitts and headed for the door as the doorbell rang a second time. I ran to the door and threw it open while apologizing, "sorry!"

"Hey, Reiko!" Seven boys chorused when I opened the door. I just stared, not only was I surprised to see the Ouran boys but also to see them carrying bags full of colorful fabric.

"Hey, guys, what are you doing here?"

"You promised to have cake with us so we brought cake, Rei-chan!" Hunny responded holding up a box of gourmet cakes.

"You brought cake, Hunny? That's great!"

"I thought you guys were setting the table and doing homework," I said with an accusing tone as my siblings surged up behind me.

"We finished," they chorused.

"I wasn't doing anything!" Aika pipped up.

"Of course," I said sweat-dropping.

"So can we come in?" The Hitachiin twins asked as they pushed passed me.

"Come on in!" Chizura and Yoite said with a smile.

"Pardon the intrusion," Kyoya said.

"No, please, go ahead," I said defeated as the Ouran boys filed in past me.

"Let's eat cake!" Hunny said happily.

"Wait!" I said pushing past everyone till I was in front of the group. "You guys may not have cake until you've had dinner."

"Don't be such a spoiled sport," Yoite said.

"Yeah, don't be such a stick in the mud," Chizura agreed.

"Come on, just because we have guests over and dad and Tadashi aren't home doesn't mean we get to break the rules," I said, scolding my siblings. Then turning to the Ouran students I said, "have you guys had dinner yet?" They shook their heads 'no.' "Then would you like to eat with us? There's enough food for all of us."

"It would be a great honor," Tamaki said with a dramatic bow.

"It would be rude to turn down such a generous offer," Kyoya said with a charming smile that somehow didn't seem right on him.

Chizura and Sotaru quickly set seven more places while Sotaru and I expanded the table, then we sat down to eat. "So did you make this?" The Hitachiin twins asked.

"Yeah," I answered.

"Wow! It's really good!" Hunny exclaimed.

"Thanks."

"Hey Takashi aren't we lucky to be eating food made by Rei-chan?" Hunny asked cutely, looking up at his friend.

"Yeah," Mori said simply.

"Not bad," Hitachiin one started.

"Yeah, it's pretty good," Hitachiin two continued.

"Not bad, for a commoner," they finished together.

A vein on my forehead bulged at this comment but I swallowed my anger.

"Hey, where's you awesome kendo fighter, Tadashi!" Tamaki asked eagerly, looking around the room.

"At work," Yoite answered between bites. "He should be home soon."

"Where are your parents?" Kyoya asked.

"Dad's on a business trip," Chizura answered reaching across the table for an egg roll.

"Where's your mom?" Hunny asked. My siblings and I stopped eating when he said this. "What, did I say something?" Hunny asked looking at us in concern.

"No, it's nothing you did," I said softly. "It's just that our mother died last year."

Everyone at the table fell silent and stopped eating. "What happened?" Haruhi asked in a soft voice.

"Some idiot ran a red light and hit her, she died instantly," I answered simply and quietly.

"I'm sorry," The boys mumbled.

"It's okay, you didn't know."

We ate in awkward silence for five minutes till Sotaru looked at Haruhi and asked him point blank, "are you gay?" Everyone paused for a split second, eyes widening in shock before my siblings and I burst out laughing; the Ouran boys quickly joined in but I noticed that they had looked slightly worried before we had burst out laughing.

"Sorry, Sotaru had no tact," I said between fits of laughter.

"That's okay, it looks like we needed this," Haruhi answered with tears in the corners of his eyes.

Dinner ended uneventfully after this and as we were cleaning up Tadashi returned. Tadashi was surprised to see the Ouran boys but he was glad that they had come regardless and as he ate dinner we brought out the cakes. To our amazement, Hunny had remembered all the different types of cake my brothers and sisters had requested. As everyone sat down to eat their cake with an excited fervor, I turned towards Tamaki and Kyoya who seemed to be the ringleaders of the group, and said, "I meant to ask earlier but what's in those bags?" As I asked I gestured towards the white lumps filled with a rainbow of luminescent colors.

"I'm actually glad you asked, my dear Princess," Tamaki said standing up and flinging himself dramatically around the room as he said, "the seven of us here are a part of the most wonderful club at Ouran Academy; the Host Club!"

"What's a host club?" Chizura asked.

"It's a place where devilishly handsome men like us who have too much time on our hands entertain beautiful ladies who also have too much time on their hands."

"Talk about modest," Yoite snickered.

"Hey, that sounds like fun! Can I join?" Tadashi asked jokingly.

"If you value your life you won't join," I said seriously, "because if your girlfriend doesn't kill you first I will."

"I was just joking, lighten up Reiko," Tadashi said, playfully slapping me on the back. "Please continue, Tamaki."

"So at our club we sometimes like to shake things up and keep it interesting by cos-playing and this time we're doing _Candyland_ as the theme."

"You mean, like the board game?" The twins asked.

"Exactly!" Tamaki responded snapping his fingers.

"I like _Candyland,_ It's my favorite game," Aika said happily.

"So what does that have to do with us?" I asked, moving the conversation back on track.

"Right, I was getting to that. In order to make things as realistic as possible we need more people so that we can incorporate all the characters, so we were hoping you would help us."

"We'll provide the costumes, the fabric for the costumes are in those bags, all you have to do is be friendly and chat with people. We'll have food so you can eat all you want and we'll provide you with rides home."

"Sounds fine to me," Tadashi said and the others nodded.

"But why us? I'm sure there are others you could have asked," I said.

"Well, we we're hoping to have Tadashi and Mori do a mock fight," Kyoya stated.

"Sounds like fun, I'm in," Tadashi said nonchalantly.

"Still, why us?" I insisted.

"Takashi still feels bad about hurting you and is still a little worried," Hunny said as he climbed from Mor's lap to mine. "He thought you guys would enjoy this and also he thought this could help make up for hurting you while keeping an eye on you!"

"So, will you do it?" Kyoya asked.

"Sure, sounds like fun," I said with a smile as everyone cheered.

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 **So that's the end of this chapter, come back to read the next one! (that's an order)**

 **Plus, here's a little fun fact about Reiko's family, it's loosely based off my own. The fact that there are three boys and girls is the same, the personalities of most of the siblings are based partially off the sibling they represent, the genders and ages are mostly the same as my siblings (I switched the genders of two of my siblings around and made two of my siblings twins), one last thing, the goofball, Sotaru, is basically a reincarnation of my little brother so his lines in this chapter are mostly things I've heard him say in real life.**


	4. Candyland! Part One

**Alright people of fanfiction land, here's my next installment, I hope you like it because I had a lot of fun writing this chapter!**

 **but before you read the story I want to thank** **and** dollinchains **for following my story. I also want to thank all you readers who have bothered to read my story so read and enjoy!**

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"Reiko! Get your nose out of that book, we're going to be late!"

"Hey!" I protested as Tadashi angrily ripped the book out of my hands. " What are you doing!? I was in the middle of a chapter and you could have ripped the page!"

"Look," Tadashi said as he grabbed my arm and pulled me down the crowded hallway. "I'm not skipping my last two periods and my club activities just so I can watch you read. We promised to help the Ouran guys with their host club activity so if we want to get there on time we need to go get the others now!"

"Fine!" I snapped, snatching my book from Tadashi before carefully putting it in my bag.

"Hey, Reiko, Tadashi, where are you going? Class is about to start."

Both Tadashi and I froze when we heard our classmates/friends call out to us. I looked over my shoulder to see my friends Mikka, Hanako, and Yuki. My brothers friends, Atsuki, Miharu, and Hidaki were also there and they called out, "hey, are you guys cutting classes?" Then smirking they said, "Mr. and Miss Perfect are turning into delinquents."

"W-we're not!" Tadashi stammered.

"Yeah," I pipped up. "We're not cutting classes, we're going home because Tadashi here feels sick."

"What?! Reiko's lying," Tadashi said while putting me in a head-lock and giving me a noogie. "She's just too embarrassed to admit that she's the one feeling sick."

"Suuurrrreee, we _totally_ believe you, not."

While Tadashi insisted that what he said was true, I fixated my eyes on an object and bobbed my head to peer around my friends. Then I made my eyes grow large in shock as I said, " whoa! What's that!?"

Everyone's heads swiveled and when they did I grabbed Tadashi's arm and hissed, "run!"

Shouts of "hey! There's nothing there," and, "they're gone!" Followed us as we raced out of the school building. We quickly ran over to the elementary school and pulled Aika and Sotaru out of the school before their next class started; both of them were more than happy to leave early. Then we headed over to the nearest metro station where we met up with the twins.

When we boarded the train, I pulled out my book and started reading it again. The minute I found my spot Aika started bouncing around and babbling. "Reiko, are you excited to see Hunny again? I am. I can't wait for us to get to the rich kids' school, Hunny and Haruhi told me that there would be cake. I want to eat cake!"

"Uh-huh," I responded mindlessly.

"I wonder what everyone there will be like?" Chizura pondered.

"Arrogant, stuck-up, and bratty," Yoite replied without hesitation.

"Reiko, get your nose out of that book," Tadashi said in annoyance.

"..."

"You shouldn't be reading right now," Yoite said nonchalantly.

"Why?" I asked not really caring as I continued reading.

"Because you aren't wearing your reading glasses," Chizura said.

"That's right! You know better than to read without your glasses," Tadashi scolded.

"You're being naughty!" Sotaru said with mock shock on his face.

"Be quiet! I forgot them at home today so just drop it. I can still read okay without them so don't use me not having my glasses as a reason for why I can't read," I said as I glared angrily at my siblings over the top of my book.

"Well, let me tell you this; you're-"

"We're here!" The twins announced, cutting off Tadashi.

Tadashi glared at me before grabbing Sotaru's hand and saying, "alright guys, follow me." I picked Aika up and carried her off the train so that she wouldn't be trampled, then I set her down and dragged her out of the station as we followed Tadashi. We walked three blocks and then we were at Ouran, the guards there were expecting us and gave us directions on how to reach music room three.

"Why music room three? I thought this was a host club," Yoite said.

The rest of us shrugged and Tadashi replied, "beats me."

Finally we reached music room three and we all froze when we opened the doors because what was behind them was _not_ a music room; instead it looked like _Candyland_ had thrown up all over the room.

"Awesome!"

"Pretty!" Sotaru and Aika exclaimed as they gleefully ran into the room.

Their words brought me back to reality and I was better able to survey the room. Starting at the door there were square carpet tiles that looked like the game board path. It wove past a table and chairs covered in fuzzy green material with sugar plums hanging from the chairs and table, there was a sign that said _Ginger Bread Plum Trees._ Then the path led to a grove of candy canes where there was red and white stripped iron rod furniture and a sign that said _Peppermint Forest._ Then the path led to an area of multi-colored gumdrops with some made into tables and chairs, there was also a sign that said _Gumdrop Mountains._ After this the path led to some black iron rod furniture that looked like licorice with a sing that said, _Licorice Castle._ Then the path led to a small house made of peanut-brittle with a picnic table in front of it filled with peanuty treats and a sigh that said _Peanut Brittle House._ Then the path went through an area of lollipops with a sign that said, _Lollipop Woods._ After this there was an area of white, snow like fabric that was draped over something to make it look like snowbanks with a white frosty throne in the middle of it and ice cream cones sticking out in various placed; there was a sign that said, _Ice Cream Sea._ This then led past a table with a chocolate fountain on it and other chocolaty desserts till it stopped in front of a castle made of sugar cones and ice cream with a throne set in the middle of it with a sign that said, _Candy Castle_.

"This looks a lot like the board game," I whispered in awe.

"Ah! The Nakahara's are here!" Tamaki said as he swept out of the back room that was hidden by the decorations.

"Thanks for having us," Tadashi said as he shook Tamaki's hand.

"You guys sure made this place look like the game board," Yoite said as he stuck his hands into his pockets and gave the room another once over.

"Thanks. I love the way it turned out, it makes me feel like I'm in another world," Tamaki gushed.

"Yeah, this place fits mi'lord perfectly since he's from another world," the Hitachiin twins said as they emerged from the back.

"Hey, Aika-chan! Isn't this place awesome?! There are sweets everywhere!"

"It is!" She said running up to Hunny. "Do I get to dress up too?"

"Yes, you all get to dress up," Kyoya said, emerging from the back.

"Before you hand out our costumes would you tell us what you guys are dressed up as?" I asked as the remaining hosts emerged from the back.

"Certainly, my dear friends," Tmaaki said stepping forward. He was dressed like a king with a crown and scepter made out of candy, with his clothes and cape being candy colored. "I'm the king of _Candyland!"_ he said with a bow.

Then the twins stepped forward and said, "we're the woodsmen of the peppermint forest, the Mr. Mints!" They were wearing red and white spiral stripped sleeveless, turtleneck shirts with a white tool-belt hanging from their waists with a red ax hanging from it; they also had finger-less gloves.

"I'm Plumpy, the sugar plum troll," Haruhi said stepping forward. He was wearing a green sleeveless fleece shirt with pants made from the same material. Haruhi also had brown boots and finger-less gloves and a green fleece hood with animal ears on it.

"What do you think of my costume?" Hunny asked as he lept forward. He was wearing a pale pink outfit with purple and green pol-a-dots on it that reminded me of a clown costume minus the sleeves. On his head he had a matching green beanie with clear sequins on it that reminded me of surag and on his hands he had finger-less gloves; one green and purple stripped and the other green and purple Tye-dyed.

"It's cute!" Aika cheered.

"So who are you?" Aika asked. "Jolly?"

"Yes!"

Then Kyoya stepped forward. "You're Lord Licorice," we all said at once.

"Yes, I am," Kyoya acknowledged with a sweep of his cape.

"Who do we get to be?" Aika, Sotaru, and Chizura asked eagerly.

"You," Tamaki said pointing to Aika, "get to be Princess Lolly!" He held up a small fairy costume with the layered skirt made of multi-colored lollipops, with a pink ruffly bodice and sleeves with lollipops edging the neck line; there was also a pair of wings attached to the back.

"I love it!" Aika said.

"There are changing rooms in the back, I'll take you there," Haruhi said, holding out his hand for Aika.

"Then Tamaki turned to Sotaru and handed him a smaller version of Haruhi's costume, "you also get to be a troll!"

"That's perfect since he already is one," I said as Sotaru grabbed the costume and ran into the back.

Then Tamaki turned to Chizura, "you get to be Miss Nut!"

"Miss Nut? Don't you mean Grandma Nut?" Chizura asked.

"No, he means Miss Nut, we changed it because it's better this way, see?" The twins said as they held up a small blue gingham dress with brown lace puffing up the skirt, brown ribbon spaghetti straps, and blue and white gingham sleeves hanging an inch below the shoulders; there was also brown lace lining the collar and sleeves.

"Cute, I'll wear that," Chizura said as she grabbed the costume and dashed into the back. Then Tamaki handed Yoite a costume that matched Kyoya's and he headed to the back.

"And you, Rieko, you get to be Queen Frostine!" Tamaki held up a floor length white dress, there were purple, blue, and silver cylinder beads scattered around the bottom of the dress that looked like sprinkles. The dress had a slit over the right leg that closed at my upper thigh and there was a blue sash layered with a purple sash around the waist that was tied into a small bow above the slit. The bodice was fitted with a sweet-heart neckline edged with a silver, swirly, sparkly lace with the same lace covering the back from the waist to the shoulder blades; it also was folded over itself to form one inch wide straps. Finally, there was a choker necklace made of two thin blue and purple ribbons with a small diamond hanging from it, a pair of over-the-elbow gloves made of the silver lace, and a silver tiara with blue and purple gemstones.

"Pretty," I breathed as I gingerly took the dress.

"What about me?" Tadashi asked.

"You and Mori get to be adventurers who guide the princesses (customers) on their travels!" Tamaki said as he held up a costume and Mori stepped forward. The costume consisted of a tunic shirt with a deep V-neck that showed off the chest, Mori's was dark blue and Tadashi's was a forest green, and a pair of dark brown pants and matching leather boots. They also had a brown leather belt from which they could hang their swords and they had brown hats with a colored feather in them that matched their shirt(think Robin Hood).

"Great, let's get changed, Reiko," Tadashi said as he grabbed his costume and headed towards the back.

"Coming," I said as I followed a tad slower, internally worrying about the slit and low neck-line. After I changed, I hesitantly stepped out of the changing room and I was amazed to see that all my siblings looked like they belonged in the board game.

"Wow! You look like a princess!" Aika said she skipped up to me and hugged my legs.

"Thanks, so do you."

"Nakahara siblings, it's time to get into our opening positions," the Hitachiin twins said, sticking their heads into the room.

"Coming!" My siblings chimed together as they surged forward and out the door. "Come on, Reiko."

No, this neck-line is too low and this slit is too high!" I said, tugging the neck up and the slit shut.

"Come on, we designed it just for you," the twins said.

"Come on!" Chizura and Tadashi said in annoyance.

"No! This dress shows too much!" I said blushing.

"Mori, would you please held our princess?" Kyoya asked sweetly. Mori nodded and came into the back.

"Look, nothing you can say can convince me to go our there-Ahh!" Instead of trying to change my mind, Mori simply bent down and swept me off my feet. "What are you doing?" I said flustered as Mori carried me bridal style into the other room.

Mori didn't answer and Tamaki butted in saying, "that's perfect! Stay like that!" With a nod of affirmation, Mori took up is position in the back, taking me with him. "Alright, everyone, look towards the doors, smile, and say 'welcome' when you see the princesses," Tamaki instructed.

"Okay," I murmured, acknowledging defeat as I looked towards the door and smiled as I rested my head on Mori's chest.

Then the doors swung open and we suavely said, "welcome!"

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 **Wasn't this a fun chapter? I hope you liked it. Till next time, bye!**


	5. Candyland! Part Two

**Hello again people! Here's the next update for my story, I hope you like it!**

 **I also want to thank** killjarkidranger, Zombiesunshineyura, **and** soubi12 **for following and favoriting my story, you guys rock!**

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When I saw the awe in the eyes of the girls who were pouring into the host club, I momentarily forgot my embarrassment in the excitement I felt in response to their awe. We stayed in the pose for about five minutes, then we were given instructions courtesy of Kyoya. "Alright, Nakahara Siblings, please go to your assigned stations, when guest come over you can offer them some sweets and engage in a small conversation. Most guests will only make very small talk with you girls and all of you boys will have hosts with you who know how to keep the ladies entertained so just be pleasant and you will do fine. And Tadashi, you will be with Mori and you two will guide the customers down the path."

"Radger!" Tadashi replied with a salute.

Then we all dispersed to our places except for Tamaki who cleared his throat and said, "attention, Ladies! As you can see our theme for today is _Candyland,_ a game played by the common folk which you can play for yourselves at any of the stations. You also may have noticed that there are an extra six people here, they are the Nakahara siblings who have so generously agreed to make this more realistic by helping us with the roles. Now, Mori and Tadashi Nakahara will guide you to your host so please, Princesses, enjoy yourselves!"

With a dramatic bow, Tamaki retired to his station and the girls began filtering in. It was amusing to watch the girls walk wide-eyed through the room, marveling at this novel commoner's game known as _Candyland._

I watched proudly how Sotaru with his big brown eye, cute costume, and funny antics had stolen the hearts of the girls at his table; they thought he was adorable. Tadashi's a ladies man and he happily chatted away with them, answering questions as he escorted the girls around the room. Yoite also caught the attention of many girls with his lofty attitude and good looks.

My sisters weren't doing that badly either. Chizura kept the girls entertained with her small talk and insight into the relationship of twins; apparently twins are revered here. And of course, all the girls couldn't help but to just love Aika who was prancing around happily in her lollipop dress. I wasn't doing that bad either, everyone complimented my dress and made small talk on how we met the hosts, a few girls who had been at the tournament remembered me; they were glad I was okay, made small talk, then left, the boys were the main attraction after all.

"How you doing, Reiko?" Tadashi asked an hour later as he was in between girls.

"Fine," I said as I sat on my throne. "All the girls here are nice but they don't stay long because they came to see the guys, not us girls."

"Hey, we get to eat gourmet food for free, what's there to complain about?" Chizura asked walking up.

"Shouldn't you be at your station, Grandma Nut?" Tadashi and I asked, grinning at the name.

"Hey! That's Miss Nut to you, and no, I don't. There's no one there right now."

"Yes, there is," we said pointing over to a girl who had wandered over and was pocking curiously at the set.

"Hey, don't touch that!" Chizura exclaimed, hastily running back.

"Can't really be bored with our family," I said, watching her leave.

"Well, things are about to get more exciting for you," Tadashi said with a grin.

"What do you mean?"

"Wait and see!" Tadashi snickered at me before walking away, leaving me a little bewildered. _What was that supposed to mean?_

"Excuse me." I was brought back to reality to see a girl with shoulder length black hair and golden eyes standing in front of me. "Are you supposed to be Queen Frostine?"

"Yes, I am. Pleased to meet you my dear adventurer. On behalf of all of us, I welcome you to _Candyland!_ What's your name, my pretty adventurer?"

"The girl giggled and said, "I'm Sakura Kudo, your highness." I liked the girl immediately. "And I was wondering if you would play a game of _Candyland_ with me?"

"Of course," I answered with a smile as I gestured to a nearby table where the game was set up. "Shall we?"

"Yes!" Sakura answered with delight.

"Do you know how to play?"

"Yes, I've already played a game with Haruhi and your brother, Sotaru, he's so cute!"

"Yes, most of the time, but there are times when he can be very, _very,_ annoying."

"I know what you mean. I have a little brother whom I love dearly but there are times when he can be such a pain."

"I know what you mean," I responded and we both broke out laughing.

Suddenly, there was a 'swish!' and I felt metal pushed against my throat. I glanced up to see my brother, Tadashi with a hand tightly on my shoulder and a fencing sword pressed to my throat.

"What are you-"

"Attention, citizens and adventurers of _Candyland!_ I have taken your precious queen, Frostine, and if you do not comply to my wishes I shall take her life!"

Everyone in the room fell quiet and looked at us. An evil smile crept onto Tadashi's face and then I heard Aika sniffling. _That's It!_ "Tadashi-"

Tadashi clamped his hand over my mouth and pulled me off my chair and the held me tight against his chest, pressing the sword against my neck. I tried to bite his hand but he cupped it around my mouth so I couldn't. Tadashi snickered as he slowly led me towards Tamaki. "King Kandy!" he declared. "If you wish for this queen to see the morrow then hand over your kingdom to me!" Tamaki seemed worried and he looked around nervously.

"Let the girl go." All heads turned towards Mori who stepped in front of us.

Tadashi gave a mean laugh then said, "do you mean to defy me?" Then, glancing at Mori's sword, "I see you mean to challenge me with strength. Very well, as future king I must be the strongest in the land so I shall wight you, win, and claim the throne!" Then he bent down and whispered, "play along," before throwing me behind him onto the ground.

My head rattled as I hit the ground and I thought, _you couldn't be a little gentler!_ I glanced at Tadashi with real anger before looking pleadingly at Mori, "Save me!"

Mori nodded before swinging suddenly at Tadashi who barely blocked it. Tadashi swung back and a fury of blows were exchanged before they both drew back. "You're good," Tadashi panted, "but this is the end!"

 _They're pulling their blows,_ I thought as I watched the match resume. But because of their skill only those of us who had seen Tadashi and Mori fighting before could tell that they were holding back.

The match intensified then suddenly, Mori did a feint and struck Tadashi in the side. Clutching his side as if in pain, he sunk to his knees crying out, "No! It's impossible! You could not have beaten me, I'm invincible!"

"Your safe." As he said this, Mori bent down and picked me up and everyone cheered.

While Mori carried me back to my throne, Aika ran up to Tadashi, saying with genuine worry and tears, "Tadashi! Tadashi! Wake up, Tadashi!"

Rolling onto his back, Tadashi grabbed Aika, threw her in the air and then caught her making her laugh. "I'm okay so you don't need to cry." Then looking past Aika towards Mori and I he called out, "hey, is that anyway to treat a guy who just saved you? Thank him properly with a kiss!"

"What!?" I starred with wide, befuddled, and angry eyes at Tadashi while Yoite called out.

"Come on! Only a kiss could satisfy a guy who just saved a girl!"

"It's just one little kiss!" Chizura added.

I glanced around the room at my siblings sly faces, Kyoya's profit sensing grin, and Tamaki's and the girls' sparkling eyes. _Fine, one small kiss._ I took a deep breath before reaching my hand up, placing it on the back of Mori's head gently pulling it down as I tilted up my chin and kissed Mori on the forehead. The girls squealed and I quickly pulled back as I turned pink. "Thank you," I whispered just loud enough for the girls to hear.

Mori gave a slight, momentary smile as he set me down on my throne. Then he grabbed my hand, kissed it, and bowed before silently leaving and going over to Hunny.

I stared after Mori, my heart raced a little as I remembered how strong his arms were and how warm he was. I blushed as I remembered kissing his smooth skin, seeing his gentle smile which set my heart aflutter, and his soft kiss.

"He's way out of your league."

"I know that- wait! Stop that!" I said hitting Chizura and Yoite who were looking at me slyly.

"You like him," they teased.

"Be quiet!" I hissed. "Just because I acknowledge the fact that Mori's good-looking doesn't mean I want to date him. He's too quiet and I'm too busy, so not another word you two." The twins shrugged indifferently before returning back to their posts and I sighed.

"You huys lok like you've been a part of this club forever," Haruhi commented as he past by.

"I know," I answered with a sigh. "I wonder what that means for the future?"


	6. Becoming the Nakahara Cast

**Hey readers, I'm sorry but this chapter is short. I also want to let you know that I won't be able to update for a while because starting tomorrow containers for our boxes start arriving and my family gets to pack the first two completely by ourselves, hooray, not. Anyways, between finishing packing and loading the pods I'll have no time to touch my computer so I won't be able to update until after the 16th at the soonest but it will probably be longer. I'm sorry but I hope you enjoy this chapter anyways and like I said at the beginning, I will finish this story despite the annoyance of moving.**

 **One last thing, I want to thank** jinkiestrap **for following my story, thanks!**

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"Shut up!" I yelled as Yoite and Chizura fought over who was smarter. They had taken a test today at school and they both were sure that they had gotten the higher score. And I, the poor bystander, got caught up in the middle of their fight; although I could ignore the yelling, I couldn't ignore the pillow in my face. "The test is over and no amount of arguing will change that, this fight just proves that you're both idiots!"

"And you're just a stupid bookworm!" They shouted back.

Carefully setting my book down, I glared daggers at them and said, "look, Tadashi was nice enough to pick up the little ones today but if you guys spend the time he freed up for you by fighting, you two can chauffeur Sotaru and Aika around for the next month."

Both Yoite and Chizura mumbled something and shot me dirty looks before walking away. I sighed in relief before turning back to my book.

I was in the middle of a confrontation when something cold slid down my shirt. "Waaahhh!" I shouted as I jumped up and grasped at my back. Laughter erupted behind me and I turned around eyes blazing to see two sets of twins behind me, laughing and pointing at me. "What did you idiots drop down my shirt?!"

"Homemade slime," the Hitachiin twins said holding up a bag of green goo.

"And ice cubes," my siblings said holding up an ice cube tray each.

"Your face was priceless!" They all snickered.

"Ha, ha, they got you, Reiko." I turned my head to see the speaker, Tadashi and the rest of my siblings and the other hosts behind me.

"Once I've killed them you're next," I shouted as I lunged at the twins. A strong arm caught me around my waist and held me in place. I looked up to see Kyoya who gave me a charming smile and said, "it's just a childish prank, no need to get violent. You're above them, aren't you?"

I gritted my teeth before saying with a spiteful glare, "you're right, I'm not a two year-old anymore even though some people in this house still act like one." The Hitachiin twins stuck their tongues out at me and the Nakahara twins made an L over their heads. I tried to toss my hair over my shoulder at them but my hair but when I tried to my hair stuck. "You morons got it in my hair!" This caused them to burst out laughing again. My cheeks turned red and I quickly looked at Tamaki and asked, "why are you guys even here?"

"We're here to tell you what a success the _Candyland_ event was! The girls loved having you there, after you left, a sparkle has left their eye. Thus, to restore that lost sparkle we would like you, the Nakahara siblings, to become honorary host club members!"

"Honorary host club members?" Chizura asked.

"That's right!" Tamaki said as he started twirling from one sibling to the next. "You will be known as the Nakahara Cast and you would join us during host club events!"

"So basically you want us to help you with your cos-playing?" Yoite asked.

"Yes," Kyoya said with a push of his glasses. "having you assist with us with cos-playing events has increased our profits by 13% and, as Tamaki has already said, the girls at our school have taken a licking to you siblings."

"So what do you say?" Tamaki asked.

"Sounds great, we'll do it!" Tadashi declared and all my brothers and sisters cheered.

I sighed and sunk back down into my chair in defeat. "Hey Rei-chan, would you like me to help get the goop out of your hair?" I looked up to see Hunny leaning over the armrest peering down at me.

"Sure, Hunny, I'd really appreciate it if you did."

"Great! Lean forward and I'll start. Oh, Takashi! You'll help too, right?!"

I didn't see Mori's response because as I said, "huh?" Hunny pushed my head down with a strong arm and started pulling the slime out of my hair. Then I felt large hands combing through my hair too. _So he said yes._ I sighed, my cheeks coloring as I remembered kissing Mori but I quickly pushed the thought away as I turned my attention back to the conversation.

"As part of the Nakahara cast you'll be expected to show up an hour before club events to and you'll also be required to attend a club meeting at least once a month, can you guys do that?" Kyoya asked.

"Yep."

"Sure."

"I don't see why not," Tadashi, Yoite, and Chizura affirmed.

"Do we still get to eat sweets?!" Aiaka asked eagerly.

"Of course!" Hunny said brightly. "That will be one of our ways of thanking you. Plus part of being a host is enjoying sweet with the costumers!"

"Yay!" Aika said happily, clapping her hands together.

"Do you guys already have another event in mind?" I asked.

"Yes!" Tamaki exclaimed excitedly. "I have it all planned out! We're going to do a maid and butler cafe! The guys will be the butlers and the girls will be the maids!"

"Wait, does that mean we'll have to call the girls, master?" Chizura asked.

"Of course, we will have to be authentic!" Tamaki confirmed.

"Couldn't you think of anything else?" I asked with a hint of a whine.

"Statistics show that almost all girls have a secret or open desire to visit a butler cafe at least once," Kyoya said as his glasses flashed.

"Then are us girls necessary?" I asked.

"Yes, because having girls serving among the guys will help put the nervous female customers at ease," Kyoya answered.

"Fine, if you say so," I said with a sigh.

"When will this event happen?" Tadashi asked.

"Next Wednesday," Haruhi answered. "This will also only be a one day event."

"What about the club meeting for this month?" Yoite asked.

"We haven't figured out a date yet so we'll let you know later," Kyoya responded.

"Okay," Tadashi said. "That works for us."

"This is gonna be fun!" Sotaru shouted as he jumped excitedly on the couch.

"Alright, Rei-chan, we got all we could out," Hunny said as the conversation ended.

"Thanks guys, " I said as I sat up and ran my fingers through my hair. "I'll get the rest out by showering."

"Hey Hunny, Mori, we're leaving!" The Hitachiin twins yelled through the front door as they left.

"See you later," the I called as the hosts left. I sighed as the door closed.

"Is it just me or does it seem like our lives are about to become very interesting?" Yoite asked as we watched the hosts leave.

"It's definitely about to become very interesting."


	7. Another Day at the Host Club

**Hi people, I hope you didn't think I'd disappear after only publishing six chapter... I'm sorry! I know, it's been seventeen days since I last updated, seventeen! It's horrible! But what could I do? I spent every waking moment since my last update packing boxes and loading stuff, most of it weigh more than myself, into pods, it sucked! The whole pod thing is a disastrous story that I could write a book about so I'll spare you the details. All you need to know is that I worked my self sick, literally, had to drive sick all by myself across the country for more complicated reasons for a grand total of 21 sucky hours till we reached our family's cabin, which does not have internet and now, a week later I'm staying with my family at my grandfather's house which doe have internet and I'll be staying here for the next week so I'll try to update as much as I can, after this week updates will be sporadic until we can move into our new house.**

 **Any ways I would like to thank** Silent Midnight Shadow, Emerald 180, Kerva, NightmareofMadness, cccourtc, Sukoshitori, Esme-chan12, caijda, TheUnvoicedBeauty21 **and** Princesslostsoul **for following my story. I also would like to thank** Shiroikarasu55, TheUnvoicedBeauty21 **and** Princesslostsoul

 ** **for favoriting my story; all of the above people rock and you're all awesome! Thank you for reading my story and bearing with these unreasonably timed updates. Thanks and enjoy the chapter!****

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Despite my misgivings concerning the maid and butler cafe, having agreed to do it, there was nothing I could do except prepare myself for fate. Wednesday came and I tried to distract myself by reading but I was caught by my teacher, luckily, since I'm usually good I got away with a five minute lecture but it still made the dreaded day worse. By the time Tadashi and I snuck out of school my whole attitude towards the cos-play event was numb.

After picking up Aika and Sotaru, we met up with the twins at the metro station, getting there just as our train arrived. While we sat inside the metal beast, Tadashi flicked me between the eyes and said with a grin, "what's this? The bookworm doesn't have a book! What's there to be so worried about?"

"Two words," I deadpanned. "Maid Cafe."

"It's also a butler cafe," Yoite pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, but you guys get to wear suits but us girls, we have to wear maid outfits and what's worse, by having the Hitachiins in the club who knows what our costumes will look like!"

"That's what makes this interesting," Chizura said. "It helps if you look at it that way."

"I guess," I groaned.

"Hey, Reiko, it's just like playing dress-up! I can even dress up like a maid so it's just like playing dress-up at home only this time you can dress up too!" Aika said happily.

"Yeah, this time you can dress up too!" Tadashi and Yoite chimed, mimicking Aika.

Despite my desire to stay frowning, I smiled against my will. "Hey, look! She smiled!" Chizura exclaimed in mock surprise..

"Shut up!" I said as I whacked the back of her head. This put me at ease, so by the time we reached the host club I felt like I was ready for anything... Probably.

Staring warily at the double doors that lead into the host club, Tadashi and I exchanged a glance before saying, "Sotaru, Aika, please open the doors."

"Okay!" They said excitedly as they threw open the doors and rushed inside. The rest of us followed closely behind and I was very relieved to see something that could be called fairly normal.

There were five clusters, or maybe it would be better to call them sections, of rod-iron tables with two or three matching chairs at each one. On each table there was a thin pink tinted vase with a rose in it, a different colored rose for each host, and a menu at each place setting.

Tadashi gave a low whistle, "not too shabby!"

"It's what you'd expect from rich kids," the twins said not impressed.

"You two are wrong, this place looks grand! I wish I could eat here," I said.

"But you get to work here and that's even better!" I looked up suddenly to see Tamaki burst out of the back room and come flying at me. "I'm soooo glad you're all here!" He said as he lifted my up and spun me around.

 _Why me? Why me!?_ As Tamaki spun me around, the other club members filtered out the back. I saw two flashes of red and then I heard a shout of, "milord, there's a spider on your back!"

There was a slapping sound then I found myself flying between heaven and earth then, smack! I hit something big, strong, and tall where I felt strong hands grasp my torso firmly yet gently. As the world stopped spinning, I leaned my head back to find myself starring up into Mori's gorgeous-er, eyes. I colored slightly but I don't think he noticed, and as Mori helped me straighten up I said, "thanks, Mori, that would have been a lot worse if you hadn't caught me... And you!" I said angrily, suddenly turning towards Tamaki and pointing at him with an accusing finger. "Don't go swinging people around unless you can hold onto them! Better yet, don't go swinging people around at all! That could have really hurt!"

"B-but, b-b-but," Tamaki stuttered.

"Good going, milord," Hitachiin one said, slapping Tamaki on the back.

Then the other slapped him on the back saying, "you could have killed her!"

This sent Tamaki flying into the corner sobbing. I looked at him funny but being used to tantrums I shrugged and ignored him. Turning my finger on the twins I said, "don't act all innocent! You were the ones who hit Tamaki and caused him to let go of me under the false pretense of there being a spider on him.

"We don't know what you're talking about," the twins said evenly, avoiding eye contact.

I shook with anger but before I could say anything, Kyoya interrupted, "enough fooling around. It's almost time to open; Nakahara Siblings, go change. There are name tags on the costumes so there shouldn't be any problems."

"Yes Sir!" Aika and Sotaru saluted before scurrying off to the back. Tadashi and I followed them and as I entered the back I called over my shoulder, "come on Yoite, Chizura... And stop pocking Tamaki!"

"Kay!" They said giving Tamaki one last poke before heading towards the back. I rolled my eyes at the twins as I entered the back.

It only took a few seconds for me to scan the room and find my costume. I gulped when I saw it, I took a deep breath before tentatively picking it up and rushing into a dressing room to put it on before I lost my resolve. Once on I refused to look at the mirror as I rushed into the main area so I wouldn't have to be escorted out of the back like last time. Apparently I was the first girl to finish changing because when I surveyed the room only the guys were out.

They were all wearing black dress pants, with white button up dress shirts with black tail coats. Then Tadashi, Mori, Kyoya, Tamaki, and Yoite were wearing black ties while the Hitachiin twins, Hunny, Haruhi, and Sotaru were wearing black bow ties. All of them had white gloves, silver trays, ans A white napkin to hang over their arm. They also had a colored rose stuck into their tailcoat that matched their section: white for Tamaki, black for Kyoya, yellow for Hunny and Mori, red for the Hitachiin twins, purple for Haruhi, and then my brothers had pale pink roses.

 _Lucky. Their costumes cover so much._ As I sulkily thought this, both Chizura and Aika walked out of the back. Their costumes looked basically the same as mine: the dress was a faded pink color, the same as the vases, with black accents. The dress consisted of a short pink skirt that reached mid-thigh with black frilly lace fluffing it up and sticking out underneath it two inches. There was a wide black sash tied around the waist with a huge ruffly bow in the back. Then there was a triangular piece of black fabric that went up the bodice, edged with black lace with pink ribbon criss-crossing up to the top. The sleeves were thin, black lace covered straps with puffy pink sleeves hanging two inches below the shoulders. Finally, all of us had black over-the-knee socks, black heels, black gloves, and a black ribbon for our hair. The only difference between costumes were that as our busts got bigger and our necklines got lower.

"Um, why is my neckline so much lower than everyone else is?" I asked, disguising my irritation with a sweet voice.

The Hitachiin twins gave a sly smile before snacking their arms around my neck, tilting my chin up towards them. "We remembered how much you _loved_ your neckline last time so this time we made it a tad lower."

"Perverts!" I exclaimed as I hit them on the head and held a hand up to my chest.

Tadashi looked at me and frowned, "you guys, that's too low. I'll let her wear it today but no more outfits with necklines lower than Chizura's."

"Rodger!" The twins saluted.

After this we took our places and opened the club. From the instant the doors opened the host club was packed and since us, the Nakahara Cast, didn't have an assigned section we just helped where ever, so I was all over the place. The advantage of this was that I was able to observe all the hosts and how they _entertained_ the girls.

When I passed by Tamaki he was serving a fancy parfait to a girl who gasped in delight, "oh, my, Tamaki, this is so beautiful!"

"That it may be, my dear Master," Tamaki said with a charming smile, "but it pales in comparison to your beauty."

"Oh, Tamaki!" The girl gushed.

 _Gag me,_ I thought as I brought a trio of girls their drinks one table over.

"Hey, Reiko, we need help over here!" Hunny called from his perch on Mori's shoulder.

"Coming," I called before heading over there and taking a table's order. As I brought my order out, I watched Hunny and Mori take an order.

From his perch, Hunny asked, "Masters, what would cha like to eat? Cake perhaps?"

"Oh, yes! I want cake, Hunny!" The girls cried happily. I rolled my eyes and moved onto my next table. When I brought my order out, I saw Hunny and Mori with their order. "Here's your cake, Masters!" Hunny said as Mori set the cake platter down.

"Oh, this is delicious!" The girls exclaimed as they began eating.

From his spot on Mori's shoulder, Hunny got teary eyed and sniffed, "I wish I had some cake."

The girls paused and looked at him before saying, "you can have some of our cake!"

Hunny instantly brightened up, he slid off of Mori, pulled up a seat, and began to dig into a piece of cake. "Can Takashi have a piece of cake too?" Hunny asked between bites.

"Yes!" The girls said, offering a piece of cake to Mori as he sat down.

"I want cake too!" Aika said as she ran up from the other side of the room.

"Here, you can help me eat my cakes," a girl said as she lifted Aika up onto her lap.

"Slackers," I mumbled as I watched the trio shirk their duties to eat cake.

As I finished up waiting on Hunny and Mori's tables I looked over at Kyoya to see how things were doing. I watched as Kyoya brought a table their order and said, "now, my Masters, could I interest you in these special edition napkins to commemorate your visit to the Host Club's Butler Cafe?" Kyoya held up an array of napkins matching the rose of each host's section and, written in black on each napkin(except Kyoya's, his was white) was, _I will always love you, my beloved Master,_ then there was also the host's name. "We even have a Nakahara Cast line."

"What!?" I said staring at Kyoya as he held up pale pink napkins with black writing on them.

"Whoa! These are cool!" Tadashi said, going over to Kyoya and picking up one of his napkins. "How much are these?"

"Fifty dollars."

"I want some!"

"Me too!" The girls around the whole room started exclaiming.

"Hey, Reiko, what do you think of these? Pretty cool, right?" Tadashi asked.

 _No, they're frivolous and a huge waste of money._ "I think they're a great way to remember the time we spent with our masters today!" I said sweetly with a bright smile.

"Great! Now help us sell these," Tadashi said, handing me a stack of napkins before going from table to table to sell them. I sighed internally before heading over to Haruhi's section.

"Haruhi, you're so good at this, you're like a real butler," One girl commented as Haruhi handed the girl her order.

"I'm just serving my beautiful Master to the best of my abilities," he said sincerely with a deep bow that left his customers swooning.

 _He's the only other semi-sane person in this room!_

"Hey, Masters, I've got your drinks!" Sotaru said, setting down the drinks. "Enjoy!" He said with a bow, copying Haruhi.

"Aw! He's like half a host," one girl said.

 _More like half a demon._

After this I made my way over to the Hitachiin twins' section. As I sold napkins to the girls in their section I saw one of the Hitachiin twins say as he set down a parfait in front of a costumer. "Here's your parfait, Master. I am forever yours."

"Hikaru," Kaoru said, tugging gently on his brother's sleeve as tears filled his eyes. "Does this mean you can no longer be with me? Have you given yourself to someone else?"

Turning towards his brother and cupping his face, Hikaru said, "no, Kaoru. As a butler I may belong to someone else but my love will always belong to you."

"Oh, Hikaru," Kaoru sniffed.

"Twins," I muttered in annoyance.

Then I saw Yoite look at Chizura and whisper, "we can do better than that."

 _No! They're about to do something stupid!_ I tried to run over to them but before I could Yoite grabbed Chizura by the waist and said passionately, "Chizura, I have suppressed my feeling for many years, I've tried to love another but no matter how many woman I serve and no matter how many smiles appear on the faces of my masters, the only one I want to smile at me is you. I know this is a forbidden love but... But I love you!"

A look of shock appeared on Chizura's face then a smile danced across her lips as she said, "I've always loved you too!"

"No master can keep us apart now," Yoite said in a low voice as he gently brushed her hair back before tilting her hair up and kissing her.

Their performance caught the attention of everyone in the room and as they kissed all the girls blushed and squealed.

 _Those devils!_ I thought as I watched them steal a glance at the faces of the Hitachiin before grinning slyly.

Chizura's and Yoite's performance caused all the girls to want their napkins so I spent the rest of the after noon running around. Then, as the last guest left, I sat down in a chair across from Mori. We were silent for a minute, then I looked up at him and said, "I suppose this is what you'd call another day at the host club?" He gave me a small smile and nodded.


	8. Official Members

**Hey people, I promised I'd update when and can so I am! I hope you all like this chapter because i really enjoyed writing it.**

 **Also, I would like to thank** Serenity750 **for favoriting and following my story, you rock! Now go, read, and enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

"Reiko, wake up. Lunch break is over, it's time for class." I looked up groggily to see my friend, Yuki standing on the other side of the table pocking my arm.

"Stop," I groaned, swatting her hand away.

"Well, you skipped class again yesterday, the teachers were furious so I'd recommend getting to class on time."

"Wait! I'm coming," I called as Yuki started to walk away. She stopped to wait for me as I lifted my face off the book I had been reading when I fell asleep then I put it in my bag and headed over to Yuki. Once out of the library we ran down the halls, barely making it to class on time.

During the last two classes Tadashi and I were lectured for five minutes at the end of class about skipping class with a warning that the next time we did that we'd get detention. I sighed as we finished up with our last teacher, dragging my feet as we headed towards our lockers. "Arg! Why can't the weekend get here all ready? That host club event yesterday was exhausting," I complained.

"Yeah, it was fun to work with the hosts yesterday but I agree with you, it was exhausting," Tadashi said in reply as we reached our lockers.

I quickly grabbed what I needed and ran to catch up with my friends. When I reached them it was near the entrance of the school and there was a large group of students clamoring about something. "What's going on?" I asked as I joined my friends.

"Don't know," Hanako said.

"I heard a kid say that a few celebrities just pulled up," Mikka added.

"Who?" I asked and Mikka just shrugged.

"They didn't say."

"If it is a celebrity then I want his autograph," Yuki said.

"What's going on?" Tadashi asked as he caught up.

"Beats me," I shrugged.

"Some hot shots just pulled up and now some, no, most of the students are going crazy," Miharu observed lazily.

"This looks annoying, let's go," Hidaki said irritated.

"No, this could be fun!" Atsuki pointed out. "Let's get a closer look."

"Sounds fun! Come on, Reiko, let's go," Yuki said pulling on my arm.

"But I don't want to."

"You owe me one for getting you at the library, you weren't late for class because of me, now come!" Yuki said with a hard stare.

"Okay, I'll come."

"I'm coming too," Tadashi said.

"Great, let's go!" Atsuki said before jumping off the retaining wall where he had been sitting.

"Anyone else?" Yuki asked. Everyone shook their heads, 'no.' "No one? Fine, suit yourselves."

After saying this the four of us began slinking through the crowd, ducking and weaving till we reached the front. "It's just a bunch of boys," Atsuki said in disappointment.

"They're hot!" Yuki exclaimed happily.

"Why are they here?!" I hissed in Tadashi's ear. "They didn't say anything yesterday, did they?"

"No they didn't so I have no idea," he whispered back.

"I'm too tired to deal with the hosts today, let's go before they notice us."

"Hey, where do you think you're going, Reiko?!" Yuki said loudly as she grabbed my shirt.

"Shhhh!" I said but it was too late.

"There they are!" Hikaru and Kaoru said pointing at us. "Hey, Reiko, Tadashi, we've been waiting for you," they said running towards us.

"You know them?" Yuki asked.

"Gotta go!" I said as I turned on my heel and ran after Tadashi. We hurriedly pushed through the crowd but as I looked over my shoulder I saw that the twins were only three feet behind us. "They're gonna catch us!"

"You're right... Sacrifice!" Tadashi yelled as he grabbed me and threw me towards the twins.

I collided with a hard chest and a strong arm wrapped around my waist as my eyes raddled in my head. "Going some where, Reiko?" Kyoya asked with a smile that made me shiver.

"H-hey, Kyoya. I'm n-not going anywhere," I stuttered.

"Of course not," Kyoya said with a charming smile as he kept a tight grasp around my waist.

"Hey, Reiko, who's this?" Yuki asked coming over to us.

"A friend," I said with a sigh. "We've been helping with his club activities, hence the class skipping."

"You've been cutting classes to hang out with hot guys? No fair!" Yuki said.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Atsuki asked, coming up behind Yuki.

"N-"

"Yes, I am," Kyoya said covering my mouth with his hand. "Now, you must excuse us, we have to go," Kyoya said as he picked me up and carried me to the car.

"Reiko! You traitor! Getting a hot rich boyfriend and hogging him all to yourself!" Yuki yelled at me as Kyoya set me into the car, sliding in beside me.

Thirty seconds later the twins shoved Tadashi into the car. "I was caught," he said simply as the car pulled away.

"What was that about?" I asked angrily. "Showing up at our school, claiming to be my boyfriend, and kidnapping us; do you have any idea how hard it will be to convince those guys that you lied when you said that you were my boyfriend!?"

"We called a sudden club meeting, it was the easiest way to get you out of there," Kyoya said simply.

"Nice boyfriend you have here," Tadashi commented. I hit him as the twins snickered.

When we finally reached the host club the room was filled with all the other hosts and our other four siblings. "What took you so long?" Yoite asked boredly from his place on a nearby sofa.

"So what's this club meeting about anyways?" Chizura asked.

"Ask, milord, he hasn't even told us yet," the twins replied in a bored voice.

"Well, you see," Tamaki said stepping into a spot light and posing. "This morning when I got back from walking my dog, one of my maids left a flier she had gotten the day before on the table. Since it was there I looked at it and saw that it was a flier for a circus that passed through town last week so I thought to myself: we should go with a circus theme for our next host club event!"

Everyone was silent for a moment then Sotaru and Aika jumped up and down shouting, "I want to be in a circus! That's a great idea!"

"We can probably afford it," Kyoya mused. "We could even make a decent profit if we make it a two day event. Alright, Tamaki, not bad for once."

"A circus sounds like a lot of fun, count me in," Tadashi said.

"Sounds like a lot of noise and trouble," Haruhi said.

"With this group of people what isn't trouble," I remarked.

"You're right," Haruhi conceded with a sigh.

"A circus, that could be interesting," the Hitachiin twins commented.

"A circus," I murmured, letting the words sink in. "The performers get to wear really cool costumes, I can't wait! Except," I said with my face falling. "Tadashi and I were told we'd get detention if we cut classes again."

"Ugg, you're right. I totally forgot about that," Tadashi said as he scratched the back of his neck.

"We were told the same thing," Yoite and Chizura said glumly.

"Not us!" The youngest two said cheerfully.

"Don't worry about that, we'll take care of it," Kyoya said with a push of his glasses.

"Great! Then are we all agreed?" Tamaki asked; we nodded and he beamed.

"Hey, Chizura, we should do a twin act together," Yoite said looking at his twin.

She grinned slyly and said, "yeah, that's a great idea!"

"Hey! The twin act is ours," Hikaru said.

"Yeah, leave the twin act to us pros, you amateurs," Kaoru added, standing side by side with his brother.

"Then why did the customers like our act better last time?" My brother and sister asked.

"That's not true, you little pests!" The Hitachiin twins said as they started tussling with my family's set of twins.

 _Crap._ I thought as I tried to dodge the tussling mass, but I was too slow and I got hit, the impact sending me flying into Haruhi. We collided and collapsed in a tangled heap on the floor. "Ouch," we both said.

"Sorry," I said.

"No problem," Haruhi grunted. "It was the twins' fault."

"Yeah, you're right..." I trailed off as my hand detected something soft and lumpy on Haruhi's chest. "Haruhi... Are you a girl?" I asked getting off him, her?

Everyone in the room froze and looked at us; the hosts looked worried and the Nakahara cast looked confused. "Uh..." Haruhi said, looking frantically and unsure at the other hosts.

"No point in hiding it now. In fact it will be more convenient this way," Kyoya said with a glint of his glasses. "Yes, Haruhi is a girl."

We were all silent for a moment then we exploded saying, "what?!"

"Yeah, I broke something on my first day of school so I'm working my debt off," she said simply.

"Figures," the twins said sighing and shaking their heads.

"Ha! So there was another girl in this sea of men and we didn't even know it," I said happily as I helped Haruhi up.

"Hmm, if I didn't already have a girlfriend I'd ask you to be mine," Tadashi said as he leaned down to peer at Haruhi. This comment caused Tamaki to start freaking out as I rolled my eye.

"So, this is a secret only for host club members?" Sotaru asked Hunny.

"That's right! So don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Okay!" Sotaru said.

"I'll keep it a secret!" Aika chimed.

"I guess we're official members of the host club now," I commented to Hunny and Mori as we watched more cause unfold thanks to Tadashi's comment.

"Yeah, you are!" Hunny said as Mori nodded.

I smiled as I leaned back and turned towards the ruckus. "I think I like being an official member."


	9. Hammock Hang-Up

**Hey people, thanks for coming back and reading the next chapter of my story _The Nakahara Cast_ !**

 **Now, before you go ahead and read this chapter I want to thank** sweetandsimple1 **for following my story. Okay, that's it for now, go ahead and read this chapter!**

* * *

"Aahh, how I love the weekend!" I said from my reading spot on the hammock in our backyard that's in the shade of two tall cottonwood trees. Opposite me on the other side of the yard was the play set where my two youngest siblings were playing. I basked in the warm spring breeze as I picked my book back up and started reading again. Since I had just finished reading _Pride and Prejudice_ I had started reading the manga series _Library Wars._

I was snickering at Corporal Kasahara's antics when I felt a large hand rest on my shoulder. I looked up from my book, peering over the edge of my reading glasses, to see Mori standing next to me with Hunny on his shoulder. "Hunny? Mori? What are you doing here?" I asked in surprise.

"We were in the neighborhood so we thought we'd stop by!" Hunny said happily. "Yoite said you'd be in the backyard and Tadashi invited us to stay for dinner!"

"Wh- okay. Are any of the other hosts here today as well?"

"No, it's just me and Takashi!" Hunny said.

"Look! It's Hunny!" Sotaru exclaimed as he jumped off the swing and dashed across the yard.

"Hunny!" Aika shouted as she followed Sotaru.

"Hey, Aika, Sotaru, what are you doing?" Hunny asked.

"We're playing on the swing set," Sotaru answered.

Then Aika asked, "Do you want to play with us?"

"Sure!" Hunny agreed as he flipped off of Mori. While the little ones were flocked around Hunny as they ran back to the play set, I remarked, "They sure love Hunny." _Maybe it's because he acts their age?_ Mori grunted affirmatively then we watched the other three play in awkward silence. "Um, do you want to sit with me?" I asked as I edged slightly off the center of the hammock to make more room.

"...Sure," Mori said as he slowly lowered himself onto the hammock. WHAM! The instant that Mori took his second foot off the ground, the hammock tipped over and we were spewed out onto the grass below.

"Ouch!" I groaned as I laid on my back, carefully holding my book off the ground. "That obviously didn't work. You okay?" I asked, turning my head towards Mori who had managed to land on his rear.

Mori nodded as he stood up, then he helped me back up. "Okay, we're going to make this work," I said determinedly. I hated to have one of my ideas not work, call it stubbornness or just plain foolishness, I don't care, I am going to make it work! "Mori, since you're heavier you get on first," I instructed. Mori obediently crawled onto the hammock. Once he had spread his arms out to balance it, I cautiously crawled out onto the hammock. As I tried to move to the right of Mori, the hammock began tipping dangerously in my direction. I leaned to the left to steady it as I muttered to myself, "Maybe if Mori moves a tad to the left and then I squeeze in next to him... Wait! Wha-!" When I started to crawl next to Mori and the hammock began tipping again, Mori grabbed me and pulled me forward towards himself. He spread his legs apart and pulled em between them, setting my shoulders on his chest. "I guess this works," I said as my cheeks flushed.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves as I tried to ignore his warm breath tickling the back of my neck. "So have you ever read _Library Wars_ before?" I asked, peering up at Mori over the rims of my glasses. Mori shook his head no. "Alright, since it's such a good series and I'm only in book two, we'll go back to the beginning." While I said this, I reached over for the bag I had brought out with all six _Library Wars_ books I had gotten from the library. I fished around in the bag till I found book one. Then I opened the book and began reading, making sure I was reading slowly enough to allow time for Mori to read too. Once we reached the middle of chapter two, I stole a glance at Mori to see that he was intently reading over my shoulder. This made me oddly happy and I settled down to read the rest of the book.

We read quietly together for some time; then, when we were in the middle of the third book, the hammock jerked. Suddenly, and before I knew what was had happened, Mori and I were laying on the ground in a tangled heap. "Ouch. What happened?" I asked as I blinked quickly to see Mori leaning over me with his face centimeters from mine.

"Sorry," Mori mumbled as he quickly and carefully got off of me. I quickly sat up too, fixing my askew glasses before brushing down the skirt of my knee-length white sundress and readjusting the top. Laughter erupted from the other side of the hammock and I looked up to see the twins standing there with sly looks on their faces.

"Yoite! Chizura! What was that for?!"

"Well, we were sent out to let you know that it's time for dinner," Yoite started between spurts of laughter.

"And then you two looked so peaceful that we decided to liven things up by flipping you," Chizura ended as she wiped tears from her eyes.

"You think this is funny," I said angrily. "Because of you two I've been flipped twice by that stupid contraption today, twice! And the ground doesn't make for a soft landing!" This just set the twins off again so I sighed in defeat. I Grabed Mori's hand and pulled him towards the house as I mumbled, "come on, let's eat." When we got inside I locked the sliding door behind me and refused to open it for the twins, instead I enjoyed watching them pound on the door and yell while pretending that I didn't understand them. Eventually Aika saved the day for them by opening the door, letting them in. Once a few choice words were exchanged, we all sat down to eat the dinner that Tadashi had made.

As we ate we heard the door creak open and we all turned our head and stared in surprise. "Dad?" I asked in disbelief.

"Dad!" Sotaru and Aika shouted joyously as they sprang up from the table and ran over to dad, engulfing him in a hug.

"Dad!" The rest of us said as we quickly followed suit and crushed him in a loving embrace.

"Dad, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be back for another week," Tadashi said.

"Well if you don't want me here I guess I'll just leave," dad said as he began walking back towards the door.

"No!" All six of us cried as we pulled him back into the kitchen and laughed.

"So why are you back early?" Yoite asked with a hint of eagerness in his voice.

"More company members were able to attend the last conference than were needed so they let me go home early once I made sure all the preparations were in order." Dad answered.

"That's great!" I said happily.

"It seems you have some new friends over, introduce me," dad said as he spied Hunny and Mori sitting at our table, quietly observing our reunion.

"This is Hunny!" Aika said as she gave Hunny a hug.

"And this is Mori," Sotaru said, patting Mori on the shoulder. "He's awesome at kendo just like Tadashi!"

"That's how we met, at a kendo tournament," Yoite added.

"Where do you go to school then?" Dad asked as he sat down and served himself.

"Ouran!" Hunny said enthusiastically.

Dad coughed when he heard this. "Did I hear you correctly? You did say, Ouran, didn't you?" Hunny and Mori nodded. "Could you tell me your full names?"

"I'm Mitsukuni Haninozuka!"

"Takashi Morinozuka."

My dad stared in disbelief at our two guests and we stared in confusion at the hosts, then our dad, and then the hosts again.

"What?" I asked, sitting back down in my spot next to Mori.

"I don't believe it," dad muttered as he rubbed his forehead. "My children are friends with my bosses' children."

We were all silent for a moment, then my siblings and I shouted, "What!?"

"That's right, your dad is the top executive for the company our dads' started together ten years ago," Hunny affirmed as he happily continued to eat his dinner.

"What?! How long have you known?" Chizura asked Hunny.

"Takashi and I figured it out when we came to your house the first time while we were waiting for Reiko to wake up. The name, Nakahara, sounded familiar but we didn't connect the dots until we saw your family picture above the fireplace." Hunny answered, still eating.

"Why didn't you tell us?" I asked, turning to Mori with hurt in my eyes.

"You'd act differently around us," Mori said simply.

Hurt still showed in my eyes as I turned away and mumbled, "I wouldn't have."

"We just wanted to be friends without our parents' relationship mattering," Hunny pipped up.

"I don't care!" Sotaru and Aika chimed together, completely unfazed by this revelation.

"I don't really care either," Tadashi said, completely fine after the news had time to sink in.

"Makes no difference to us," the twins said, shrugging.

Everyone looked at me and I was surprised myself to find that I was so upset, normally this wouldn't have bothered me once the initial shock was gone but for some reason, it really did upset me. "Sorry.. Reiko," Mori said, gently lifting my chin up so I was looking at him again.

"Oh, it doesn't really matter to me either," I said as my cheeks colored slightly. Mori gave a small smile as he rustled my hair.

After this the night passed uneventfully till they left, though really, it was more weird than spectacular. In fact, I think I'm the only one who noticed. Right as Mori and Hunny were leaving, dad pulled the two aside and whispered something to them. I thought that was odd but I said nothing, instead I rounded up my little sibling so I could put them to bed.

 **XXXXXXX**

"Hunny, Mori," Mr. Nakahara whispered as they were about to leave. "Keep an eye on my children, will you. I don't want any of them getting caught up in this mess but now that they've met you one of them might." Hunny and Mori were silent for a moment before nodding with serious expressions on their faces; then, they left.


	10. Day One of the Circus!

**Hello Readers! Welcome to day on of the Host Club's Circus! I hope you enjoy this chapter with a special appearance by a certain someone who all you fans of Ouran High school host club should recongize!**

 **But before you read this chapter, I'd like to thank** FugimotoYuuki **for following and favoriting my story.** **  
**

 **Now sit back, relax, and grab some popcorn because day one of the circus is about to begin!**

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"A circus! A circus! We're gonna be part of a circus!" Aika sang as we made our way to the host club courtesy of the metro.

"Would you shut up!" Chizura hissed,covering her ears.

"But I can't wait to be a part of the hosts club's circus!" She whined.

"And we can't wait for a bit of peace and quiet," Yoite snapped.

"You're a big meanie!" Aika accused, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Stop yelling at each other, we're in public!" Tadashi hissed, glaring at all three. I looked up from my book, rolled my eyes, and returned my attention back to my book.

"Circ, circ, circus! Circ, circ, circus! Circ, Circ, Circus!" Sotaru chanted while climbing from empty seat to empty seat.

"Sit down Sotaru," I said without looking up from my book.

"Nuh-uh," he said, shaking his head 'no.'

"Sotaru, sit down. There are other people on this train who want to sit down," Tadashi scolded.

There was peace and quiet for a moment, then Sotaru snatched my reading glasses off my face and said, "ello, ello."

"Sotaru! Give me my glasses back!" I commanded as I put my book down and lunged for the fleeing Sotaru. I grabbed the bottom of his shirt and reeled him in, carefully peeling his fingers off my glasses so he wouldn't break them. "See what you did? You smudged my glasses! Now I can't use them!" Sotaru just gave me a funny grin and I scowled at him.

"Can't you guys be quiet?" Yoite asked irritated. "We're already at our stop so _please,_ shut up!"

As he said this, the train pulled to a stop and we got off. Then we finally arrived at Ouran and as we were approaching music room three, I said to Tadashi with a sigh, "The host club hasn't even opened yet and I'm already exhausted."

"Me too, I hope being with those guys gives me some energy." Tadshi replied

"Don't hold your breath," Yoite said dryly.

"We're here," we said as we entered the club room.

"Whoa, this is kind of cool," Chizura said as we all looked around the room.

"It definitely looks like a circus in here," I remarked as I noted the strips of colorful fabric draped from the ceiling and tacked against the walls. On one side of the room there were stalls set up with peanuts, cotton candy, and other food you'd find at a circus while on the other side there was a ring set up on the floor surrounded by bleachers that looked more like movie theater seats than anything else.

"I'm guessing their philosophy is go big or go home," Yoite commented.

"You're right, my friend!" Tamaki said as he came out of the back. "I'm very proud with how it all turned out. Very authentic, no?"

"It looks like a real circus, Tamaki," Sotaru said.

"You really out did yourself this time," Tadashi said, slapping Tamaki on the back.

"Hey, Tamaki, what are you?" Aika asked, running up to him.

"Guess!" Tamaki said as he picked her up. Tamaki was wearing white pants, light brown boots, a white dress shirt, a red tailcoat with the belt, buttons, and tassels accented in gold. He also had white gloves, a red top hat with a gold band around it, and a rope whip hanging from his belt.

"He's an idiot," Chizura whispered to Yoite who snickered.

"Are you a lion tamer?" Aika asked with wide eyes.

"You got it!" Tamaki exclaimed in delight.

"Wow!" Aika said, awed. "Lion tamers are my favorite."

"What do you think of clowns?" Hunny asked as he cartwheeled into the room.

"Clowns are _my_ favorite!" Sotaru said as he ran up to Hunny who was wearing a clown costume that was half striped and half Polk-a-dotted with a ruffly collar, red over sized red clown shoes, a squirting flower, and a rainbow afro.

Then Mori came out behind him and I stared when I saw him in a checked and Polk-a-dot clown costume with red over sized shoes, a green and yellow curly wig, and a big red nose. When I saw Mori in that garb I burst out laughing, collapsing on the floor as I laughed. "Look, Takashi! We haven't even told a joke yet and the audience is already laughing!" Hunny said happily.

"What's so funny?" Tamaki asked me.

"It's Mori, I never thought you would make him a clown! It just doesn't work for him, he looks ridiculous!" I laughed.

"What would you have made him?" Tamaki asked.

"A strong man or something like that. Really, any thing _but_ a clown."

"You just want Mori to be a strong man so you can see him without his shirt on," the Hitachiin twins accused, having just come out of the back.

"What? No! It's just that a strong man works with his image better. I don't care if he has a shirt on or not..." I trailed off as a mental image of a shirtless Mori turned my cheeks red.

Everyone laughed and the Hitachiin twins said, "ha! The bookworm is an open book!"

"Shut up!" I mumbled as I glared at the twins who were dressed up as Magicians. They had black dress pants, a dark purple dress shirt, a black tie, and a black tailcoat. The Hitachiins also had black capes with dark purple lining, black top hats with a dark purple band, dark purple gloves, a purple flower in their tailcoat's dress pocket, and a magician's wand in hand.

"A strong man, huh? I'll make note of that." I gave a sideways glance towards the speaker, Kyoya, who was dressed as the ringmaster. Kyoya was also wearing black dress band and a tailcoat along with a white dress shirt, a dark blue tie, a black top hat with a dark blue band, a black cape with dark blue lining, and white gloves; in his hand, he was also carrying a straight black cane.

"Looking snazzy," Tadashi said, knocking his fist playfully against Kyoya.

"Thank you," Kyoya said with a push of his glasses.

"Hey guys, instead of chatting shouldn't they be changing?" Haruhi asked as she entered the room.

"Hey Haruhi, what are you?" Aika asked excitedly as she observed Harruhi's puffy bright yellow pirate shirt (minus the deep slit), with a dark purple cloth belt, brown pirate pants (by pirate pants I mean baggy pants gathered around the ankle) and boots.

"I'm a hula-Hooper," she said, holding up a light-up hula-hoop.

"Cool!" Aika replied.

"Ahem," Kyoya said, getting everybody's attention. "Haruhi's right, you Nakahara siblings need to change. Your costumes are in the back with your names on them."

We all headed to the back and quickly changed. Aika was a hula-Hooper like Haruhi and had a neon pink sleeveless dress with an orange sash and lining, a ruffly skirt with sequins, and orange gloves with pink sequin flowers.

Sotaru was a clown with an orange, green, and yellow wig, a striped and diamond pattern clown suit, red over sized clown shoes, and a squirting flower.

Chizura was a tightrope walker and she wore a white lacy leotard, a short black ruffled tulle skirt layered with white lace, and black and white over-the-elbow gloves. She also had a black and white flower in her hair and she carried a black and white parasol for balance.

Yoite was a plate spinner and he wore a white pirate shirt with a neon green fabric belt, black pirate pants and boots, and ripped black finger-less gloves with neon green lining.

Tadashi's a juggler since he can actually juggle, and he has a turquoise sequined Arabian vest, a matching fabric belt, dark brown pirate pants and boots.

Lastly, I'm a tumbler/hula-Hooper and I'm wearing orangey-pink puffed silk pirate pants with a sequin waist band in orange and black. There's a matching cropped top with sequins around the collar and straps that go over the shoulder, there are also sleeves that hang below the shoulder. (think Arabian dancer with a bit more coverage)

"Alright, it's opening time, places everyone!" Tamaki declared as he took up his position in front of the door.

"Coming!" The rest of us said as we ran to our places, poising as the doors opened. "Welcome to the Host Club's Circus!" We declared as the doors opened and the girls' eyes widened with awe and delight.

Circus music filled the room and made for a gay atmosphere. All the girls were smiling and fawning over the boys, some were even fawning over us girls and our costumes as we handed out popcorn, cotton candy, and other circus food.

"Hey, what's with the stands?" One of the girls asked as I scooped some ice cream for her.

I glanced around at the other guests and host then beckoned for the girl to lean in. "You didn't hear this from me but tomorrow we're going to perform for you girls."

"Really?!" The girl asked, her voice rising in excitement.

"Ssshhhh! remember, this is our little secret, okay?"

"Okay!" The girl said happily as she left.

"Reiko, you didn't just tell her about the surprise now, did you?" Kyoya asked with a chilling smile and voice that gave me goose bumps.

"W-what are you talking about?" I asked with a fake smile as I avoided eye contact.

"Reiko," Kyoya said, firmly gripping my shoulder with one hand while forcing my chin up with the other. "Hasn't anyone told you that lying is bad?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said hotly despite the fact that I was trembling internally.

Kyoya just gave me a smirk before whispering in my ear, "Don't worry, I'll find a way for you to make this up." As Kyoya released me and walked away I shivered.

 _What the heck is he planning! He's a scary conniving little fox!_ I thought as I put my hand to my chest and walked away.

"You look troubled, would you like to have your fortune told?" A creepy, crawling voice said from behind me.

"Aaahhh!" I jumped when I saw a guy with black hair, a black hooded cape that covered his eyes, and a cat puppet in front of me. "Who-who are you?"

"This is Nekozawa from the black magic club! I invited him here to perform authentic fortune telling!" Tamaki said, magically appearing at my side.

"Yes, and I'd like to tell yours. It's simple, all you have to do is drink a cup of tea and turn the cup over," he said with a creepy, scratchy cackle.

"S-sure," I said hesitantly, officially creeped by this Nekozawa person. I quickly drank the tea and turned the cup upside down.

Nekozawa picked it up and gave another creepy laugh, "this says you're beginning to experience love and that something dark is creeping into your future. Oh, truly wonderful!"

"O-kay, thanks!" I said, hastily leaving with one word floating through my head, _weird!_


	11. Day Two of the Circus!

**Hello readers and welcome back to the Host Club's Circus! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I also need to let you know that I'm entering the world of no internet again and I honestly have no clue when I can update again; probably around Columbus day weekend. Sorry about these inconveniences and please bear with me!**

 **Any ways, I'd like to thank** WritingSoul, Youko Fukui, **and** littlerose568 **for favoriting my story and** WritingSoul **and** Youko Fukui **for following my story. You're support is very much appreciated!**

 **Lastly, to the guest, Adelle, who left a review; I'm sorry but I'm not Clair nor do I know her.**

 **Now please, go enjoy this chapter!**

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"Welcome to day two of the host club's circus!" We announced dramatically as the double doors of the host club swung open. Immediately the excited girls surged forward and quickly surrounded their favorite host; this was the signal for the hosts to begin their acts.

"Oh, Tamaki," a girl gushed, "you make such a dashing lion tamer!"

"Thank you, my dear Princess," Tamaki said with a sweep of his hat. "But despite my strength in front of lions, I'm weak to your beautiful charms."

 _Bleh!_ I thought as I served one of Tamaki's other customers. Then I headed back to the food stands where I passed Kyoya.

"I'm so glad you girls made it to today's event," he said with a charming smile.

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world," one girl said.

"Me too, I really love your events," another girl added.

"We really appreciate your dedicated support and loyalty," Kyoya responded flashing another bright smile. "And as a token of our appreciation I would like to offer you some of our limited early bird tickets to our upcoming masquerade ball at a special price of only fifty-five dollars a ticket."

"I want one!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

"Swindler," I mumbled, sweat-dropping as I passed. When I reached my booth I began filling up on cotton candy and while I did that I looked over at the drink stand to see Tadashi in the center of a mass of girls with Aika on his lap.

"Wow, it's so sweet that your little sister loves you so much!" One girl cooed, leaning on Tadashi's shoulder.

Tadashi gave a charming smile and replied, "I'm just nice that way, right Aika?"

"Yup!" Aika replied, happily licking an ice cream cone.

 _Bribing a six year-old in order to get points with the ladies despite the fact that you already have a girlfriend, that's just low._ I sighed before trudging on past Haruhi.

"Hey Haruhi, can you really hula-hoop?" A girl asked.

"I've been practicing for you girls but I still don't think I'm all that great," she said modestly.

"I still want to see!"

"Same here!" The girls said eagerly.

"Well, if you insist, just promise not to laugh." Haruhi stood up and spun the hoop for about ten seconds before it fell to the floor.

"That was great, Haruhi!" The girls cheered.

 _Simpletons,_ I thought as I passed Yoite, who was surrounded by girls.

"Yoite, doesn't spinning all those plates make you dizzy?" A girl asked.

With a flip of his bangs, he said, "They make me a little dizzy but it's nothing compared to how dizzy you girls make my heart."

"Oh, Yoite!" The girls blushed.

"Disgusting," Chizura said while swinging her parasol off her shoulder. "I can't believe that immature playboy is my twin."

"But at other times it's undeniable that you two are twins," I responded.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

I just gave Chizura an impish grin before avoiding her parasol as I ducked over to the Hitachiin twins' section. Having managed to avoid Chizura's wrath, I began passing out cotton candy to the girls near me.

"It's amazing how handsome you two look as magicians." A girl commented.

"Yeah, although it is harder to tell you two apart," another girl added.

"Then let's play the _Which One is Hikaru?_ Game!" They sang before ruffling their hair and re-donning their hats.

 _What a stupid game, you don't need to be able to tell them apart to know that they're both evil tricksters._ I quickly escaped to the clowns' area to avoid playing the twins' game.

"Wheeeee! Look at me!" Hunny squealed as he tumbled along the floor, occasionally jumping off of Mori

"Come back clown number one!" Sotaru cried gleefully as he chased after Hunny with his squirty flower. I giggled at their silly performance before happily making my way back to booths while humming along to the circus music that was playing.

I had just made it to the booths when the lights dimmed without warning. Surprised, I looked around till I spotted a spotlight shinning down on Tamaki who had a microphone in his hand. "Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! May I have your attention?" Tamaki announced, pausing for affect. "Today, my dear princesses, we have prepared a surprise for you. As part of our circus event, we have put together our own little circus starring us hosts!"

 _So it's time, huh?_ I thought to myself.

When they heard this the girls went crazy, laughing and talking excitedly as the lights came back on and they quickly filled up the stands. Once everyone was seated the lights dimmed again and Kyoya stepped onto center stage and a spot light appeared above him. With a microphone in hand, he said, "my dearest ladies, thank you for coming to the first ever Ouran Host Club Circus!" The audience applauded loudly and when they quieted down, Kyoya continued. "For our first act we present to you Tamaki, the Lion Tamer!"

Tamaki walked on stage and the crowd went wild. He took the whip off his hip and set one foot on a chair as a cage was pushed onstage. Inside the cage was Tamaki's dog, Antoinette, whom was dyed completely yellow with a fake mane around her neck. I watched, internally cringing at the cheesy act as Tamaki ushered Antoinette back into the cage with his whip. (He never once hit the dog) Once she was in the cage, Tamaki turned towards the audience with his flamboyant, idiotic grin as he bowed.

"Next up we have the clown trio staring Hunny, Mori, and Sotaru!" As Kyoya finished, the clowns ran into the ring.

They ran around a bit, squirting each other with flowers before doing a funny little dance and ending the act by throwing pies at each other. The audience roared with laughter and the three of them bowed before leaving the ring.

There was a momentary pause where the janitor showed up to clean the mess. Once clean, Kyoya stepped back into the ring and said, "And now, we present to you our next act, the tumbling act featuring Reiko and Chizura!"

In order to make the tumbling act more exciting, we had decided to add Chizura into the act. She wore her lacy leotard, replacing her skirt with black pirate pants and that was it in terms of alterations. We took our places on opposite sides of the ring; then, the music started.

We dashed at each other, jumping into one-handed cartwheels as we passed each other. The second our feet hit the ground, we ran two steps before launching into split leaps. We landed this in a crouch where we leaned back so our head and shoulders touched the ground before lifting the rest of our bodies into a straight line above us. We slowly opened our legs into the splits then brought them back together before curving them towards the floor behind our heads, touching our feet to the ground before somersaulting onto our knees. Then we jumped up, did the scorpion in place before passing each other again, this time doing round-offs.

Chizura and I tumbled for a minute longer, then our act was done. Breathing heavily, we walked together to the center of the ring, bowed, then walked off as Kyoya introduced the next act. "Now we present to you our juggling act, starring Tadashi!"

Tadashi trotted onto stage and began juggling. He did three different patterns before jumping onto a unicycle where he reduced the number of clubs to three because he had only learned to ride a unicycle last week, it was still pretty impressive.

After this, Kyoya introduced Yoite and his plate spinning act. The girls in the audience were impressed but Chizura and I rolled our eyes since we knew that those plates were attached to their sticks.

As soon as Yoite was done it was the Hitachiins' magic act where they cut the poor class representative of 1-A in half. They also did various card tricks and they even managed to squeeze in their twincest act by having Hikaru assure Kaoru that he would never make him disappear just as his love for him would never disappear; they then proceeded to make the class representative disappear, I felt sorry for him.

Once the twins finally disappeared of stage it was Chizura's tightrope act where where she wowed the audience by walking across a high-wire without falling, I wasn't as impressed because I knew that there was a harness holding her up.

As Chizura finished her bows, Kyoya went on stage and said, "Our next act is the hula-hooping trio: Haruhi, Reiko, and Aika!" The three of us ran into the center of the ring where we formed a triangle with Aika and Haruhi towards the audience while I was behind them. Haruhi and Aika were using one hula-hoop while I was using eight, the variation kept everyone entertained. When we finished the act, we bowed together and ran off stage.

"We're done!" I whispered happily to Aika as we sat done on the outside of the ring. "Did you have fun?"

"Yes! Let's do it again!"

I gave a small laugh, "Sorry, Silly, but it's already over-"

"And now for our final act, we present to you our strong man act featuring Mori and his assistant, Reiko!"

"What!?" I shouted in whisper as I stared at Kyoya who approached me with a suave smile befitting a devil.

"Consider this your way of making up for yesterday's slip of the tongue. Have fun!" When he said this, Kyoya pushed me towards the ring.

I trotted into the ring with a confident smile plastered to my face while I was freaking out internally. As I approached Mori I started freaking out even more when I saw that he was shirtless, wearing only a reddish-brown Arabian vest with burnt orange accents and reddish-brown silk pirate pants with a burnt orange fabric belt. I gulped as I stood next to him and waved at the audience.

When Mori suddenly turned around and walked over to the weight station I slowly followed. I watched with a smiling face as he effortlessly lifted the bar with the presumably 75 lb. weights on it. When he set it down he whispered, "put the weights on."

I nodded slightly and smilingly brought them over and helped put them on and F.Y.I. They did not weigh twenty-five pounds. Mori then lifted the weight and the audience cheered. When he set the weight down he turned towards me and abruptly picked me up. "What are you doing?!" I hissed through my clenched smile.

"I'm lifting this with you on it... Hold on." I gripped the bar for dear life while giving a relaxed smile as Mori lifted the bar above his head. I hurriedly got off the second he set the bar down. "What?" I asked nervously when Mori turned towards me.

"Kyoya wants me to lift you... Grab your leg and pull it to your shoulder." With my heart sinking, I pulled my leg up, then I felt Mori lift me up and hold me up with one hand! Mori then set me on his shoulder and whispered, "I'm going to push your legs into a straddle, grab your calves when I do." I had barely nodded when Mori pushed my legs to the side and I had to scramble to grab my calves as he lifted me above his head. The audience went thundered with applause and I gave a real smile.

Suddenly, I was falling and before I could blink I was in Mori's arms. He gently set me down and wrapped his arm around my waist and I put my arm behind his back and we bowed. _That was scary! I was_ _not_ _mentally prepared!_ I thought, smiling at the audience while my body shook slightly. I felt Mori pull me a tad closer and I glanced up to see him looking down at me. I instantly blushed, and I turned my face forward as the others ran onto stage where we took our final bows, officially ending the Host Club's Circus.


	12. An Afternoon With Mori

**Hey readers, I'm back, finally. After several painful delays my family is finally moving in and since the place we're staying at has internet I can finally update again. I'd like to thank all the readers for their patience and I'd like to thank everyone who followed and favorite since my last update. Because I love you all so much and appreciate your patience more than you can imagine I'm giving you two chapters right now so once you finish this chapter the next one will be ready to read. Enjoy!**

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"We're here!" We said as we entered the club room. Today we are attending our host club once a month meeting.

"It's the Nakahara Siblings!" Tamaki said gleefully as he ran towards us. Aika and Sotaru ran towards him and jumped into his arms.

"He may be an idiot but at least he's good with kids," Haruhi said as she got off her spot on the couch.

"Yeah, so all is not lost when it comes to Tamaki," I replied.

"What are we even discussing today?" The Hitachiins called in a bored tone from a couch.

"Yeah, you better not just be wasting our time," our twins added with a bite.

Not fazed one bit, Tamaki replied, "Of course we're not wasting your time because we're here to discuss the very important topic of our next event!"

"Yes, so let's all calm down and begin the meeting," Kyoya said icily as he sipped his tea.

Everyone quieted down immediately and I flopped down onto an empty love-seat and burried my nose in my book. Why bother listening to a boring meeting when my siblings can give me the gist of it later and I can be reading instead? I became engrossed by my book and as I read my eyelids slowly started to drop until they shut completely and I was asleep. The next thing I knew, a large gentle hand was shaking me away.

"Hmm?" I said groggily as I blinked away the sleep from my eyes. I looked up to see Mori standing over me. "Is the meeting over?" I asked as I sat up and looked around. That's when I realized that my brothers and sisters were no where to be seen. In fact, no one other than Mori, Hunny, and I were in the room. "Uh, where's everyone else?"

"They all went home already!" Hunny said happily.

"What!? My siblings ditched me?"

"No, they said they didn't want to disturb you so they asked Mori to bring you home later. They said you'd enjoy spending time with Mori!" Hunny replied with a cute smile.

 _Stupid brothers and sisters,_ I thought, my face turning red when Hunny said this so I looked down at my lap.

"Let's go," Mori said quietly as he leaned over and grabbed my hand, pulling me up.

Momentarily, his face was inches from mine which caused my heart to race as I breathed, "Okay," while looking down.

I quietly followed Mori as he led me out of the school building to the car waiting there. It was a ten minute drive to Mori's house which passed by quickly due to Hunny's non-stop chatter. When I got out of the car, I surveyed the estate. It was a large, no, huge traditional Japanese with a huge garden on the outside which is enclosed by a privacy fence. I gave a low whistle before saying, "Nice place you have here, Mori."

"... Thanks," he said before gently grabbing my hand and leading me inside. Mori led me down a few hallways, up a set of stairs, and past a few rooms. _I thought they were taking me home, why are we at his house?_ I complained internally as he led me through the house. We finally stopped in front of a bedroom.

"Mori and I are gonna change now so you can wait outside, Rei- chan!" Hunny said cheerfully as he ran into the room followed quietly by Mori.

"Okay!... I guess," I said as they shut the door. I sat down next to the door with a sigh. _This is kind of awkward, I want to go home!_ I could hear Hunny's muffled chatter as I leaned my head against the wall and sighed. _My family is stupid for setting this up. Just because I sort-of like Mori they go out of their way to have me spend time with him. What are they trying to do, break my heart?! Cause the more time I spend around Mori the more I like him but I know that I don't have a chance because I'm just a plain commoner. I've been successful so far in suppressing any feelings I have for him but if I have to spend time alone with him I think I might just fall... Fall in love!_

My face turned red when I thought this and I shook my head vigorously to clear my mind. As I did this, the door clicked open and I looked up to see Hunny and Mori walk out; Hunny in his karate uniform and Mori in his kendo stuff. _He's hot._

I blushed when I realized that Mori was staring at me. "W-what?"

"... Do you want to change?... You could borrow some of my clothes."

"Huh? Wh-what?! Er, no thank you, I'm fine!" I said hurriedly, fiddling with my school uniform as I stood up. "So are you guys gonna practice?" I asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Yeah! We're gonna practice, have dinner, then take you home!" Hunny said happily, running ahead of us. Then he stopped, turned around, and said, "Hey, Takashi, do you know if Chika and Satoshi are here?!"

Mori shook his head 'no' and I ran up to Hunny and asked curiously, "who are Chika and Satoshi?"

"Our little brothers!"

"Oh, I didn't know you had little brothers. What are they like?"

"Well-"

"Mitsukuni, prepare yourself!" I whipped my head to the right just in time to barely see a flash of dusty-blonde charging Hunny before Hunny ducked back to avoid the punch, knocking me backwards as he did so.

"Waah!" I exclaimed as I fell backwards. Then a strong arm caught me under the armpit, stopping my fall. I glanced at Mori as he pulled me up against himself, leaving his arm hooked under mine. "Who's that? What's going on?" I asked sweat-dropping.

"... That's Mitsukuni's brother, Chika... One of the Haninozuka's rules is to fight upon meeting; it's to help keep them always ready to fight."

I nodded and just watched quietly. _I can't believe I've come to accept this as normal._ Mori and I quietly watched the fight and I could barely keep up with what was happening; then suddenly, it was over. Hunny had won.

Hunny walked over to his brother who was lying on the ground and offered him his hand. "I'll beat you next time!" Chika ranted as he swatted away Hunny's hand.

"Chiiiikaaa!" Out of no where a bolt of black appeared and then I saw a kendo sword slam onto Chika's courtesy of a mini Mori. "Chika, that's no way to treat your brother! Don't be a sore looser!"

While I watched the black hair boy hit and reprimand Chika, I pointed to the boy and asked, "Is that your younger brother, Mori? Satoshi, right?"

"Hnn," Mori said, giving an affirmative nod.

"Hey! It's big bro, Takashi!" Sotaru said, his face lighting up as he ran over to Mori. "Hey, Takashi! How long have you been home?" Satoshi asked eagerly as Mori ruffled his hair. "Sorry for how Chika's acting, I'll make sure to punish him thoroughly. Hey, do you wanna practice together?"

My head was rattling as I listened to Satoshi ramble. _All the talk went into Satoshi I see._

My attention was caught again when I heard Satoshi ask, "Who's this? Is she your girlfriend?"

When he asked this my face flamed red and my knees gave way. Luckily, Mori caught me and pulled me back up. I gave him a weak smile before turning towards Satoshi and saying, "I'm Reiko Nakahara."

"Oh, you're part of the Nakahara Cast that works with the host club, right?!" Satoshi asked.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"So are you bro's girlfriend?"

I opened my mouth then closed it. _Mori can answer this himself._ I turned my gaze towards Mori and Satoshi followed suit. Mori was quiet for a minute. _Is that a slight blush I see?_

"... Let's practice, Satishi," Mori answered.

"Okay!"

As I watched Mori and Satoshi begin practicing I sat down cross-legged, set my chin in my hand, and thought, _he dodged the question!_

I watched Satoshi and Mori practice till it was time for dinner. I ate dinner with the Morinozukas where I met Mori's parents. His mom is tall and beautiful with gorgeous long black hair; she's quiet too. Mori's father is also tall and he's handsome as well; he talked for a good bit about my father and all the great things he does for the company. After dinner, Hunny and Chika headed to their hose while Mori brought me home.

We sat in peaceful silence during the ride to my house. When we were a minute away from arriving at home, I glanced over at Mori and said, "Hey, Mori, you know how Satoshi asked if I was your girlfriend?"

A hint of surprise flashed through Mori's eyes when I said this. Then his face turned stoic again as he said, "Yeah... I'm sorry Satoshi jumped to a weird conclusion."

"Oh, yeah. Well I'm from a big family so I'm used to people jumping to weird conclusions." I said with a bitter smile as I turned my face away from Mori. "It's strange but for some reason it kind of stings when you attach the word 'weird' to the idea of me being your girlfriend. Though it makes sense because you're rich and handsome and I'm just plain and a commoner; it _would_ be weird if someone like me was dating you. But you know; despite how far out of my reach you are I still developed feelings for you," I said turning to Mori with a smile on my face as tears streamed down my cheeks. "I know it's hopeless but I still like you, Takashi!"

The second I said this I lept out of the car, which had stopped in front of my house, and ran inside. I ran straight up to my room and locked the door. Leaning back against the door, I thought, _what the heck did I just say?!_


	13. A Nakahara Party

**As promised, the next chapter, enjoy!**

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"So everything's a go for tomorrow?" Mikka asked as we walked out of school.

"Yeah, it's gonna be a blast! There's going to be tons of food, loud music, and a full house."

"Will there be beer?" Atsuki asked?

"No alcohol!" Tadashi said, smacking his friend on the head.

"Should we bring anything?" Hanako asked.

"Nope, just bring yourselves," I said cheerily.

"Yeah, by bringing ourselves we're bringing the _real_ entertainment; our awesome personalities!" Atsuki said.

"Sure," Yuki commented and all us girls rolled our eyes. "So are you two inviting those Ouran guys?" Yuki asked.

When we heard this question, both Tadashi and I grimaced.

"What is it?" Miharu asked.

"We didn't invite them, they invited themselves," Tadashi replied.

"How'd that happen?" Hidaki asked. With a sigh, I answered, "Sotaru blabbed to Haruhi about the party we're having and within thirty seconds all the hosts knew about it. We were going to invite them but the second they heard about the party they started re-planning it! They tried to change the location and everything!"

"That sounds like a pain," Mikka said as she and everyone else looked at us sympathetically.

"Yeah, well, it took a whole day but we managed to convince them to just show up," Tadashi added.

"Well, all's well that ends well," Yuki said. "We know you need to get ready so we'll let you go now. Bye!" Yuki said.

"Bye!" We called as we headed home.

 **XXXXXXX**

"Hey, is the food ready yet?" Chizura asked as she brought a stack of plates out of the basement.

"No, so get your butt over here and help me!" I snapped as I shoved food into the oven before beginning to frost the cupcakes.

"Sorry, I'm busy with something else."

"Yeah? And what's that?" I asked disbelievingly.

"Hmm, I'm not quite sure yet but I'm sure there's something." Chizura answered.

"That's nothing! Help me!"

"Hey! I need help carrying this table upstairs!" Yoite called from the basement.

"Coming!" Chizura called. Then turning to me she said, "See? I'm busy." Then she turned and sprinted down the stairs.

"What?! Ugg! Hey, Tadashi, could you lend me a hand?" I asked as he walked by, carrying a string of lanterns.

"Sorry, I need to hand these up," he replied.

"Fine," I said with a sigh.

"We'll help!" Sotaru and Aika said, eagerly reaching for the frosting.

 _It'll take twice as long if they help._ "Thanks, but I think Tadashi needs your help more than I do. Why don't you go help him?"

"Kay!" They said as they ran outside.

"Good grief, everyone likes to eat the food but nobody wants to help make it," I muttered to myself. _Help or no help, I'm going to do this because what is a party without food?_

For weeks, Tadashi and I have been planning on throwing a party while our dad is away on a business trip and today is our last chance for a while because our dad gets back tomorrow at noon.

By six, all the food was made and people started to show up. All six of us had invited three people each, not including the hosts, so when everyone but the hosts had shown up by seven, the house was packed; though a lot of people drifted outside onto our large patio.

"Great party!" Yuki said as she bopped around to the music while holding a cup of punch in her hand.

"Come on, let's go outside and dance!" Hanako said eagerly.

"You guys go on ahead, we're still expecting some people so I'll wait here," I answered.

"It's the boys, right?" Mikka asked.

"Well, aren't you such a nice host, or maybe there's a certain someone that you're waiting for?" Yuki teased.

"Of course not!" I said blushing.

"Wow! You turned beat red!" Hanako said.

"What? Is there a guy you're crushing on in the host club?" Yuki asked with a sly smile.

"Tell us!" Mikka said in an excited whisper.

Just then the doorbell rang. _I'm saved!_ "I have to get that!" I said as I ran to the door. "Welcome!"

"Hey Reiko," the boys chorused as they filtered in past me.

"Everyone's mostly in the backyard," I said.

When I saw Mori pass, my face instantly turned red as I remembered what I said to him last time I saw him. While my heart pounded so loud that I was sure everyone else could here it, Mori just passed by me without a glance, which kind of, really, stung. I followed the hosts with a smile on my face despite the funny feeling in my chest.

As all the hosts went into the backyard, I turned towards my friends to invite them outside but before I could get a single word out of my mouth, I was bombarded by questions. "All of those guys are _hot_! Which one are you crushing on?" Yuki asked. "Is it the blonde one?"

"Or is it one of the redheads?"

"Is he the tall one?"

"Or the one with glasses?" Yuki and Mikka asked in a quick volley.

"None of your damn business!" I hissed in a whisper as my ears heated.

"You're no fun!" Yuki pouted.

After a short pause, Hanako said, "I didn't know that there was another girl in the host club." (Haruhi had come dressed as a girl.)

"Oh, that's Haruhi. She's a scholarship student. She helps at the host club because she broke something valuable on her first day of school."

"Lucky!" Yuki pouted, glancing jealously at Haruhi. "Getting to be surrounded by hot guys everyday, it's like a dream!"

 _More like a nightmare in Haruhi's case,_ I thought as I said, "Come on. Everyone else is outside, let's join them."

"Okay," my friends said as we headed outside.

The music was blaring and everyone was talking pleasantly, telling jokes, and laughing. A half hour later, as everyone listened to Tamaki's and Atsuki's nonsensical banter, a swing song started playing. Totally changing topics, Tamaki said, "What a riveting piece of music; it makes you just want to dance! What is it?"

"That, my friend," Atsuki said seriously, "Is an example of an amazing type of music called swing which has it's own form of dancing to accompany it."

"It's a dance style that was popular in America around World War II and the two decades after that," Hidaki added.

"Sounds like fun, I would like to try this swing dance," Tamaki said with sparkles around his face.

"I want to try it too!" Hunny said eagerly.

"Is it any fun?" The Hitachiin twins asked skeptically.

"Loads! It's so addicting that once you start you won't want to stop," Chizura replied.

"We don't believe you," the twins answered flatly.

"We'll show you boring twins how lame you are for not knowing how to swing dance," Yoite said as he grabbed Chizura's hand and pulled her to the center of the patio where they immediately began swing dancing. Yoite and Chizura went straight into the advanced moves, ignoring the basic and just doing twists, turns, and a few lefts.

"Are we just going to watch them show off? Let's dance!" Atsuki said as he pulled Yuki onto the dance floor and the others followed.

"Awesome! How do we do that?" Tamaki asked.

"I'll show you," I said with a laugh. "First partner up," I said as I pulled the three female middle schoolers over so that the twins and Hunny had partners; Tamaki was partnered up with Haruhi. "Kyoya, do you want to dance? You'll have to wait for a partner."

"That's okay, it's more interesting to watch," Kyoya said with a push of his glasses.

I shrugged before turning towards the others, teaching them the basic, five other beginner moves, and then I threw in the pretzel just because it's fun to do and fun to watch people struggle with. After thirty-five minutes of teaching and correcting, I stepped back and said, "That's it guys, you've got it!"

"This is fun!" Tamaki said gaily.

"I'm not much of a dancer but even I'm enjoying this," Haruhi said.

"This isn't that bad of a way to kill time," Hikaru commented.

"Yeah, you could almost call this enjoyable," Kaoru added.

"All this spinning is super fun!" Hunny said happily as he spun his partner out and then spun her back in.

I contentedly scanned the dance floor for a partner: Tadashi was dancing with his girlfriend, all the boys from my school had partners, and so did all the hosts except for Kyoya, who had opted out, and Mori. I hesitated when I realized that Mori was the only available guy. I'd sort of been avoiding him all night because of what I said last time, but my urge to dance outweighed my awkwardness. So I went up to him and asked, "Hey Mori, do you want to dance with me?"He was silent for a moment and I was sure he was gonna say no but to my surprise he nodded. "Do you know how?" I asked as we entered the frame; I put my left hand on Mori's arm as Mori put his right hand on my shoulder blade and then held each others other hand.

"... Yes, I watched you teach the others."

I blushed and looked down. "Are you ready?" I asked in a low voice. Mori nodded and we began.

Mori's an amazingly fast learner, I barely had to coach him, in fact I was scrambling to keep up with his leads; he even threw in the pretzel in the first thirty seconds. I was spun, twirled, and flung till I was smiling breathlessly. Mori smiled down at me and I blushed. Suddenly, Mori stopped dancing and I looked at him questioningly. "Mori?"

"... How do we do that?" Mori finally said, pointing to Tadashi and his girlfriend who were doing lifts.

"Oh, that's easy. First we slide to two hands, then we go in like this," I said as I stepped towards him so that our bodies were practically touching. "Then we do that again, that's the indicator. Then you grab me by the waist, pull me to your left side, then your right, then middle, and set me down once you've done this; I'll do the rest."

"Let's try it," Mori said. He led me into the lifts and I thrilled in the rushing of the air through my hair and the swishing of my skirt as Mori whipped me side, side, then middle where I split my legs in a straddle before he set me down.

"That was so much fun! It's almost like we're a couple!" I said swiftly. The second these words left my mouth I realized what I'd just said and I remembered that I had confessed last time and my face blazed a deep red. "Er, what I mean is- I-I was just saying that if- not that we are..." I stuttered in mortified embarrassment.

With my face turning an even darker shade of red, I quickly ran off the dance floor and slipped around to the side of the house where I leaned against a tree and buried my face in my hands. _Idiot! What did you just say?! You'll never be able to look him in the eyes again!_

As I was freaking out internally, I felt a large hand rest on my shoulder. "Reiko," Mori said quietly.

"I'm so sorry I said something so stupid!" I said quickly from between my hands.

"It wasn't stupid," Mori said softly, gently lifting my chin out of my hands. "I like you too."

My eyes which had a few tears in them flew wide with shock. "Me?! Why-" Mori cut me off be leaning down and kissing me. I was stunned for a second but then I wrapped my arms around his neck. As we seperated I whispered, "Did this really happen?"

"Yes."

"I love you, Mori."

"... I love you too."


	14. Masquerade Ball, Part 1

**Hi readers, thanks for coming back to read my next chapter! I don't have a lot of time because we just got into our new house and everything is chaotic over here so I just want to thank all who favorited and, or followed my story and all readers who are reading this, thanks!**

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"We're having a masquerade ball? Why is this the first I'm hearing of this?" I asked angry and annoyed as I tapped my foot impatiently against the floor.

"Really?" Tadashi asked surprised, "We talked about it at the last meeting."

"You forget, Tadashi but remember that Reiko slept through the meeting," Chizura said with a chuckle.

Adding with a sly grin, Yoite said, "Yeah, she slept the entire time while dreaming about Mori."

"Shut up you dunderheaded twins!" I hissed while hitting them both on the head.

"Now,now, Reiko, calm down, they're just teasing." Tadashi said as he grabbed both my arms. "But who would have thought that you would have confessed to Mori yourself," Tadashi said with a sly smirk.

"Leave me alone!" I said with a red face as I pried my arm from Tadashi's grasp. "Come on, the train's here," I said as I grabbed Aika's hand and led her onto the metro.

"Hey Rieko, is it true that you're gonna marry Mori?" Aika asked.

"What!?" I said shocked. "We're only dating right now! Who told you that?"

"Chizura and Yoite," Aika said, tilting her head in confusion. "What's the difference between dating and marrying?"

"A lot."

"Like what?"

"Grown-up stuff." I said blushing.

"Like kissing!" Sotaru said with a goofy grin. "Hey, does Mori kiss you like this?" Sotaru asked as he jumped on me and tried to kiss me.

"No he doesn't, now get off!" I said angrily, pushing Sotaru off me.

"Hey guys, you're making a scene," the twins said nonchalantly. I looked up and blushed when I realized that everyone in the car was staring at us, a few of them were even laughing.

Immediately, we all quieted down and traveled in relative silence till we reached Ouran.

"I'm hungry," Sotaru complained.

"Me too," Aika added.

"But we just had dinner before we left," Chizura said annoyed.

"Yeah, but we're hungry again!" The little ones whined.

"There will be food at the ball so just be patient," Tadashi said.

"Kay!" They answered.

"We're here," I said as I opened the doors to the club room and led everyone inside.

"The Nakahara siblings are here, Kyoya!" The Hitachiin twins called as we entered.

They both had on dark dress pants and white dress shirts. Hikaru had on a vest with the right panel being black and orange checked while the left panel was solid black. Kaoru's vest was dark green and black checked on the left and solid black on the right. Hikaru was also wearing an orange ribbon around his collar and white gloves while Kaoru wore a green ribbon around his collar and white gloves. They also both had black dress shoes and intricate masks, which matched the costumes, in their hands.

"Looking sharp, Hikaru, Kaoru," Tadashi said as he went up to them.

"Obviously, we designed these," they said bluntly.

"Wow, look at the humility," Yoite said.

"Yeah, not vain in anyway," Chizura commented.

"Oh, like you two have any right to say anything," I said with a rol of my eyes.

"What does that mean?" The twins asked angrily.

"Oh, perfect timing," Kyoya said before I could retort.

He was wearing black dress pants and a smokey gray dress shirt. Over this Kyoya wore a black trench coat with a gray handkerchief, and black shoes. Finally, he had on a musketeer hat and a gray and black mask on. "Everyone, come here so I can brief you on how tonight's gonna go."

"I'm here!" Tamaki announced dramatically as he jumped out of the back.

"Tamaki's a prince!" Aika shouted delightedly when she saw him wearing white dress pants and tail coat over a gold dress shirt. Then there was a fake sword hanging from his belt, a pristine white gloves on his hands, and a crown on his head.

"No, my dear princess, I am not a prince; I'm a king!" Tamaki said with a dramatic bow.

"Then can I be your queen!?" Aika asked happily.

"Why of course, me dear!" Tamaki said as he picked Aika up and swung her around.

"Wow, milord, you're a perverted creep for hitting on a six year-old," the twins said on an accusing whisper.

"Wait! No, I'm not!" Tamaki hopelessly tried to explain himself to the twins while the rest of us ignored them.

"Hey guys, are you ready to eat cake and have fun?" Hunny asked as he came into the room riding on Mori's shoulder. Hunny was wearing a black and white checked dress pants and a white shirt. On top of the shirt he wore a black and white stripped vest and a black bow tie. He had a silver stop watch and chain hanging from his waist and stuffed in his breast pocket, and he was holding a black and white mask.

Mori was wearing a very dark, but not quite navy, blue dress shirt and black dress pants. He was also wearing a silver vest and also a black dress coat that was open in the front in addition to his dark blue ties and gloves.

A light blush danced across my cheeks when I saw Mori and although I didn't say it, I was glad he wasn't wearing his blue, black, and silver mask because I liked his face without it.

Slowly following Hunny and Mori out of the back was Haruhi who was instantly pounced on by Tamaki and both sets of twins. Before she was mobbed, I was able to see that Haruhi was wearing a turquoise dress shirt, dark gray pants, a dark gray vest with varying shades of gray polk-a-dots which was under a turquoise blazer. She had a dark gray bow tie and gloves to finish the look.

I sent mental words of support to Haruhi as I casually and inconspicuously made my way to Mori's side. Quietly, I slipped my hand into Mori's and gave it a gentle squeeze, he looked down at me and I smiled at him he gave a small smile back.

"I bet you're thinking how hot Mori is without his shirt on." My ears flamed res and I jumped and whipped my head around to see the Hitachiin twins behind me.

"Wow, who would have thought that Reiko would turn out to be such a pervert," Hikaru whispered snidely and loudly to Kaoru.

"I know," Kaoru replied in the same mocking tone as his brother. "Falling for a guy just because she saw him once without his shirt on; how perverted!"

"Pervert!" Hikaru accused.

"Pervert!" Kaoru said.

"Shut up!" I shouted as my whole face heated up in embarrassment. "That's not true and you know it!"

"Yeah," Tadashi said stepping forward. "Reiko didn't fall for Mori because of his bare chest... She fell for him because of his height!"

"And his dark eyes," Yoite added.

"And his deep voice," Chizura said.

All three of them paused then said, "I guess Reiko really is a pervert."

"Stop it!" I said as I hit them on the head.

"A-hem," Kyoya said sternly, clearing is throat and getting everyone's attention. "It's time to discuss what we're doing tonight." Everyone settled down immediately and Kyoya continued. "As you know, in twenty-three minutes we will begin the host club's masquerade ball. The ball goes from seven-thirty to midnight. During the event, we'll only need the help of the guys since we have a surplus of girls and very few guys. So you three guys will be dancing basically all night and yo girls will help us open but you'll basically attend as guests. Does everybody understand?" Everyone nodded and Kyoya finished. "Your costumes are in the back like normal. Meet us by the grand entrance once you've changed."

"Okay," my siblings and I chimed as we headed to the back. Once we all changed we gathered in the club room before heading to the ballroom where I observed what my siblings were wearing.

Tadashi and Yoite are wearing black dress pants and Sotaru has brown dress pants. Tadashi has a red dress shirt and a black and white plaid vest; he also has a red tie on and a black tailcoat. He also has a intricate black, red and white mask.

Yoite has a black dress shirt, a gold vest, and a black bow tie and black belt; he has a gold and black mask.

Sotaru has on a dark purple dress shirt, a brown blazer, and a purple bow tie; he has a brown and dark purple mask.

All three of us girls are wearing dresses. Aika's is a light pink sleeveless empire waist dress with a sparkly purple sash around her chest and purple tulle sticking out beneath the dress. She has a pink and purple mask.

Chizura's dress is a silver sleeveless high-low dress. It has a v-neck in the front; the back is open with three emerald green lace strips that extend across the back in the shape of an hour glass with a knot where the two triangles connect. There was a dark gray sash set just above the hips and tied in the back. The dress was lightly gathered there and starting where the sash was tied, emerald green lace covered the dress, darkening into a forest green as it neared the hem. She has a emerald green, gray, forest green, and silver mask.

Finally, my dress is a really deep dark purple dress with a high sweet-heart neckline and sleeves that dropped two inches below my shoulders. The top part of the dress was fitted till it reached the waist where a silver sash was tied around it. The back was made of two triangular panels, one transparent and the other solid which wrapped over each other making a triangular dip. Starting where the sash was, the purple began getting even darker, swirling into black as the dress reached the floor with tiny little silver beads scattered around the base of the dress. The skirt over-lapped in the front, making a slit that opened at the knee and the dress reached an inch above my ankles in the front but was floor length in the back. My mask was dark purple, silver and black. Both Chizura and I had chokers, hers was gray with a hexagonal emerald, mine was black with a silver crescent moon.

By know we had reached the ball room. "Put on your masks," Kyoya hissed as we hurried into the dim room and took our places. Once everyone was in their places, us girls were at the base of the double staircases with the hosts evenly split between the two and above us with Tamaki on the top balcony, the lights flashed on. All the girls in front of us ooh and awed when they saw the hosts.

Holding a microphone, Tamaki announced, "My dearest princesses, Thank you for coming to our ball! We hope you enjoy this special night we have prepared for you this evening!" The girls clapped and Tamaki waited for them to quiet down to continue. "Thus, on behalf of the host club and the Nakahara cast, welcome to Ouran's Host Club's Masquerade Ball!"

* * *

 **Alright, since I'm so busy and tired of coming up with colors for costumes during club events I want you readers to leave a review for the colors the characters wear in the next event coming up in chapter seventeen. Feel free to suggest colors for one character or for all the characters, the boys need a color that looks good with black the girls need a main color and an accent color. Thanks for any suggestions!**


	15. Masquerade Ball, Part 2

**Hey readers, I've got the next chapter for you, I hope you like it! I want to thank everyone who's followed and, or favorited my story, you guys rock!**

 **One last note, I've had no suggestions for costume colors so if you don't hurry up and suggest something I'll end up playing spin the bottle with colors to determine the costume colors, the outcome will sure to be... Interesting.**

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Skirts swirled softly against smooth legs, the dim light glistened of extravagant, beautiful dresses. Light, smooth music filled the room with a soft buzz of quiet conversation in the background. Flickering candles threw tall elegant shadows onto the floor and wall, outlining the breezy movements of the couples.

I sighed as I rested my head on one of the tables scattered along the perimeter of the room. The candlelight flickered and shone in my eyes as I watched the gay couples float across the floor to a slow yet happy waltz. I sighed again as I glanced at the clock, it's only ten o'eight. _Two more hours to go,_ I thought glumly. It's not that I wasn't having fun it's just that I'd only been able to dance once, with Tamaki who isn't my favorite host, and I haven't been able to speak with Mori at all tonight which left my chest feeling kind of tight.

"What's with that sad face, Reiko?" Aika asked as she ran up to the table, looking at me worriedly. "Are you not having fun?"

"I'm having fun," I said with a soft smile as I patted Aika on the head.

"Yeah, it's not that she's not having fun, she's just sad that she can't spend time alone with a certain someone." Chizura said with a snicker as she came up behind me.

"Shut up!" I said with a deadly glare. Then with my lips curling into a slight smirk, I said, "Now don't go acting all superior, Chizura. The truth is that you're raging mad that Yoite's getting all the attention and you're not."

Chizura's face flashed red, "Th-that's a lie!"

"Suuurrrreeee," I said as I looked away and sighed. "It's definitely more fun to be hosting an event than attending as a guest."

"That's for sure," Chizura said, slipping into the seat across from me. "Us girls have it hard, except for Aika who gets as much attention from the girls as she always does."

"No kidding," I said sweat-dropping as I watched some of the girls usher Aika over to a table where they began doting on her.

"She's so spoiled," Chizura commented with a hint of envy in her eyes.

 _Oh, jeez, are you four or fourteen?_ We sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the dancing couples.

Then, in between dances, Yoite came over with tears in his eyes. He clasped Chizura's hands in his and asked, "Chizura, will you dance with me?"

"... No," Chizura replied, crossing her arms and turning her face away.

 _And the act begins,_ I thought with an eye roll.

"Why?!" Yoite asked pleadingly as he walked around to face her. "Why won't you dance with me? I've missed you!"

"You missed me?!" Chizura asked angrily with tears in her eyes. " You ditched me to dance with all those girls, you don't care about me at all!"

"Not true! Not true! We knew some day we'd find other people to love so it can't be helped that these beautiful ladies have set my heart on fire! But," he said as he tilted Chizura's chin up. "There will always be a section of my heart that belongs solely to you."

"Oh, Yoite," Chizura breathed with stars in her eyes.

"Chizura, will you dance with me?"

"Yes!"

All the girls squealed as they entered the dance floor and I watched in disgust. _Why are you all going crazy over their stupid little act?! Can't you all see the devil horns above their heads? They're nothing but little attention hogs!_

I sighed and gave them the stink eye before getting up and walking over to a small group of girls who were watching the dancing fixedly. One look and I could tell that they really loved dancing. "Excuse me," I said walking up to them. "Do you girls want to dance? I know a few of the lead's steps so I could dance with one of you if you want."

The girls looked at each other, a little taken aback, but then they turned to me with eager eyes. "Okay!" they said happily.

"Great, who wants to go first?"

"I will," a short girl with strawberry blonde hair said. I led the girl onto the dance floor as the next song began.

"Give me a sec to switch the arms, that's the hardest part for me," I whispered as I shook my arms, put them in the followers position them flipped them. "There we go," I said as I put my hand on her back and grabbed her hand. I stood still for a minute, listening from the tempo. _A fast waltz,_ I thought with a smile as we began.

I led the girl across the floor in an elegant waltz. As we danced around the hosts, the girl and I giggled at their reactions. The Hitachiin twins looked shocked for a second before smirking and continuing dancing. Tamaki stopped and stared for a minute and Kyoya flashed a breezy smile. I'm not sure Haruhi noticed, at least she gaze no sign of it. Hunny gave us a cute smile, Yoite and Chizura rolled their eyes and ignored us, while Tadashi gave me a brief thumbs up. I avoided making eye contact but the whole dancing could feel Mori's gaze fixed on me.

However, by the end of the dance, I was having enough fun that I'd almost completely forgot about Mori's intense gaze as I happily grabbed the next girl. For the next hour, I danced solely with that group of girls till I was worn out by all the dancing.

With a tired but contented sigh I sunk into a chair, enjoying my drink and being off my feet; that's when _they_ showed up. "Hey Reiko." I looked up warily to see the Hatachiins in front of me.

"Hey Hikaru, Kaoru, what do you two want?"

With a sly smile, Hikaru started, "We just wanted to compliment you on your good dancing."

"Yeah," Kaoru continued. "You did really well leading those girls out there, though we were a bit surprised."

"Why?" I asked guardedly, looking at them with suspicion.

"Because until now we didn't know you were gay!" They said with evil smiles.

"I'm not gay!" I hissed angrily.

"Then why were you dancing with girls?" They asked slyly.

"Because I enjoy dancing and I just happen to know the lead's steps so I danced with some of the other girls who wanted to dance too. Besides, you two act gay all the time."

"It's different for us," they said nonchalantly as they grabbed partners and headed back to the dance floor.

"Stupid twins," I mumbled angrily as I got up and headed to the outdoor patio that was mostly empty and I looked up to see a star full of stars and a beautiful half moon. "What a lovely night," I murmured to myself.

"Hey, isn't that Reiko from the Nakahara cast?" I heard a girl whisper behind me.

"Yeah, I think you're right."

"It's not fair that she gets a dress that matches Mori's clothes just because she works for the club!"

"I know..."

 _Wait! What?_ I thought as I tuned the girls out. _Matching? Mori and I are matching!? Clam down, Calm down... Let's see, my dress is a really dark purple, black, and silver while Takashi's suit is a very dark blue, black, and silver... Argg! We are coordinating!_ "Stupid twins," I mumbled as I felt my face flush.

"A walk should help me calm down and it would be a waste to not go on a walk when tonight is so beautiful." I murmured as I lightly ran down the steps and entered the rosebush maze. "Aah! What a beautiful night!" I said, looking up at the moon as I threw my arms to the side and spun in a circle. Then I stopped and sighed, _I wish Mori was here,_ I thought as I continued walking.

A few minutes later, I reached the center of the maze, a circular area with three stone benches encircling a single rose bush that stood in the center of the circle. With a small smile laced with a hint of sorrow, I walked over to the nearest bench and sat down. I spread my hands out on the cold stone and flung my head back, staring at the silent and comforting sky.

I'm not sure how long I stared at the sky but it wasn't long till I heard a faint rustling. _Somebody else is out here? I can't blame them, it's a perfect night for a walk._ Turning my complete attention back to the sky, I ignored the low rustling and payed it no heed.

Eventually, the noise stopped and I assumed who ever it was had left; then, suddenly, a strong hand clasped over my mouth and a tall figure leaned over me. I cried out in surprise and fell backwards into the bush. The thorns pierced my bare arms and back and I gave another muffled cry.

The tall figure pulled me up out of the bush and pulled me against himself, my back to his chest. He had one hand clasped firmly over my mouth and the other holding my wrist tightly, pinning it between my shoulder blades."What are you doing!?" A male voice hissed from the shadows.

"Isn't she one of the possible targets? She was defenseless and alone so I grabbed her." My captive replied in a whisper.

"Idiot! Think before you act!"

"We're only supposed to be observing this time," another man whispered annoyed.

"But-"

"Someone's coming, scram!" A young male voice said as he dashed through the circle. "Hurry!"

"Hey! What am I supposed to do with her?" My captor asked.

"You're the idiot who grabbed her! Figure something out yourself," one of his buddies said as he left.

My captor grunted frustrated and, without warning, he threw me towards the rose bush. I closed my eyes, then a big hand wrapped around my waist and another grabbed my arm. I looked up wide-eyed to see that Mori had grabbed me.

He pulled me close, his hand migrating up to my bare back and the other to my chin. Gently, Mori lifted my chin up and, looking me in the eye, he asked, "Reiko,what happened?"

"I-I'm not quite sure. I was just sitting there when some guy grabbed me. He held his hand over my mouth so I couldn't call for help and I couldn't move because of how he held my arms. Then his friends were angry at him for-"

"How many friends?" Mori asked sharply, interrupting me.

"Uh, three, I think. Anyways, they didn't like the fact that he had grabbed me, then they said something about possible targets and just observing for now... That's all I remember," I said apologetically. "Maybe if we follow them-" I started as I turned towards one of the paths they had disappeared down.

Then Takashi grabbed my wrist and stopped me. "Let them go, Reiko. There's nothing we can do about them... Let's go back to the ball."

"But!" I protested and Mori stared down at me with a look that said, drop it. _He knows more than he's saying._ "Let's go," I mumbled as I shouted walking down the path that led back to the ball room. "Waaahhh!" I exclaimed as Mori silently picked me up and carried me princess style. I flushed as his arm pressed against his bare back. "Hey, aren't we going the wrong way?" I asked in a small voice as Mori turned right when we should have gone straight.

"... We're taking the long way back... So we can spend more time together." I blushed but I also smiled happily. I leaned my head against Takashi's chest and happily listened to his heart beating and his breathing as we slowly walked through the maze.

Soon we could see lights and hear the faint chatter turn into a buzz as we neared the staircase. "Ah, we're here already," I said with a disappointed sigh.

Mori was silent, but instead of putting me down, he pulled me up and held me with one arm. "Reiko," Mori breathed as his free hand played with my hair before sliding down to my cheek. "I love you." He held my cheek in his hand as he leaned in and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck as we kissed.

When we pulled apart, Mori gently set me down and I looked up at him and said, "I love you too, Takashi." Then I slipped my hand into his as we made our way back up the stair, out of the garden and back to the ball.


	16. Life as Normal

**Hey people, I don't have much to say or time to say it so I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks to everyone who's commented, followed, and, or favorited my story; you guys are great! Now enjoy the chapter!**

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"Guys hurry up! We're going to be late!" I shouted as I stood in the doorway, angrily tapping my foot.

"Calm down," Chizura said with an eye roll as she walked out the door. "We're all coming."

"Come faster!" I said through gritted teeth.

"let's go watch Tadashi!" Sotaru said as he ran past me.

"Aika, Sotaru, hurry up!" I called again.

"Calm down, they're coming," Chizura said, pointing to them as they came down the stairs and got their shoes on.

"Why are you in such a hurry? Tadashi's first match is near the end of round one," Chizura said.

"You forget that her boyfriend's first match is near the beginning of the round," Yoite said, giving me a sly sideways glance.

"We're going to see Reiko's boyfriend! We're going to see Reiko's boyfriend!" The two youngest chanted.

"Shut up!" I shouted as my cheeks flashed red.

Yoite and Chizura snickered as they both grabbed a younger sibling's hand and ran down the sidewalk. "Hurry up, love bird!" they called over their shoulders.

"Stupid siblings," I mumbled under my breath as I ran after them.

We managed to catch the train and we headed down town to where the kendo tournament was being held. Like last time, in a period of de-ja-vou, we shot down the busy sidewalks to the Tokyo Martial Arts Center. Once inside the building we hustled through the crowd mumbling excuse me's to everyone we bumped into.

"My feet are gonna fall off!" Aika complained.

"I need to go to the bathroom!" Sotaru whined, dragging his feet.

"Come on, we're almost there, quit complaining," I said, leading them into the tournament room.

"Hey Nakahara siblings, over here!"

"It's the hosts!" The youngest said excitedly, running over to them. The rest of us followed a tad more slowly and by the time we made it over to them the other two had already made themselves at home. Sotaru was sitting with Tamaki and Aika was sitting on Hunny's lap.

"Has Mori gone yet?" Were the first words out of my mouth and the second I said this I realized my mistake.

"Wow, such a dedicated girlfriend! Mori's really lucky that you care so much about him," Tamaki said with hearts sparkling in his eyes.

"I'm not sure I'd call that dedicated," Hikaru started straight faced.

"It sounds a bit suspicious to me," Kaoru continued.

Then together they finished as a light bulb appeared above their heads, "Oh, I get it, Reiko's a stalker!"

"You guys will never grow up," I said with an eye roll as I sat down next to Hunny. "So has Mori gone yet or not?" I asked Hunny in a whisper as I sat down.

"Don't worry, Rei-chan, you didn't miss him. Takashi's next," Hunny replied with a smile.

"What a relief," I said with a sigh. A few minutes later, it was Mori's turn.

"Go Mori!" We all cheered as he and his opponent faced each other and bowed. A few second after the whistle blew Mori hit his opponent, going the same thing in the second round.

We all cheered and Yoite commented, "He's good, definitely better than last time."

"But Tadashi got even better too!" Sotaru said loyally.

"Sure, but no matter how hard Tadashi trains, Mori will always be cooler." I said this without thinking and when I glanced at everyone else, they all had sly grins on their faces.

"Someone seems to be playiing favorites," Kyoya said with a refreshing smile.

"I'm not playing favorites, it's the truth!' I said hotly, turning my attention back to the tournament, ignoring the hosts and my siblings.

About half an hour later, it was Tadashi's turn. "Do you think he'll make it?" The Hittachiin twins asked in a bored tone.

"Of course he will, bird brains!" Sotaru shouted angrily, jumping up in front of the twins.

"Bird brains? Did you just call us bird brains you little monkey?" They replied angrily, giving Sotaru a noogie.

"Of course Tadashi will make it, he's my big brother , he can't lose!" Aika pipped.

"Yes, the probability of Tadashi loosing in the first round when he was evenly matched with Mori during the last tournament is close to zero." Kyoya said with a push of his glasses.

"Shh! The match is starting," Chizura hissed.

We all nodded and quietly watched the mach in progress. As expected Tadashi won; then both Mori and Tadashi kept winning match after match, then Tadashi's last match before the final round, he lost.

"No... Way," I breathed, stunned when Tadashi lost.

"Not only did he lose," Hikaru started.

"He was creamed. He didn't even win one set," Kaoru finished.

"Who's the guy he lost against?" Yoite asked.

"Chojiro Fukui, a transfer student from Saito Boys Academy," Kyoya answered.

"He's good," Tamaki said seriously. "I wonder if his looks are any good?"

"Tamaki, you're a pervert," I deadpanned.

"Am not!" Tamaki protested and I ignored him.

"I can't believe Tadashi was beaten so badly," Yoite said, his eyes betraying his shock.

"What's with all the long faces?" Tadashi asked walking over to us, his helmet in one hand and his sword in the other with a goofy smile on his face. We all said nothing and just stared at Tadashi. "What? You guys are creeping me out."

"How can you look so happy-go-lucky?" Hikaru started.

"When you just got obliterated?" Kaoru finished.

"Aren't you upset?" They asked together.

"I was a little upset at first but it's been such a long time since I fought someone so skilled that I kind of got really caught up in the heat of the moment so I ended up enjoying myself so much that I don't really care that I lost," Tadashi said, flashing a grin.

"Tadashi had fun so that makes him a winner!" Aika said running up to him and giving his leg a hug.

"That's right, you guys say that if you have fun that makes you automatically a winner." Sotaru said, completely serious.

"That's right, I had fun so I'm a winner," Tadashi said patting their heads softly. "Besides, Mori is gonna avenge me by beating that guy to a pulp!" Tadashi said with a flashy smile while glaring menacingly at Chojiro.

 _He's not upset, he's furious, and he's masking it with a smile! If Kyoya is the Demon Lord then Tadashi's the Demon King!_

"Guys, Takashi's match with Chojiro is about to begin," Hunny said, returning our attention to the tournament.

The whistle blew and my heart pounded in my ears as they exchanged swift and hard blows. _Who's going down first?_ I thought nervously as I chewed on the collar of my dress. Smack! Mori's sword whacked his opponent in the side.

"Yes!" We all cheered, jumping up and down on the sidelines. "You can do it, Mori!"

"Hit him again!"

"Knock him into tomorrow!"

The second round began after this and seconds after round started the whistle blew again; Mori had been hit. "No!" We all groaned. "Don't give up, you can do it!" Everyone around me shouted.

Then I felt Mori looking at me, I looked at him and smiled, "Takashi, I believe in you!" I could almost see Mori smile back at me through the helmet as he turned his attention back to his opponent.

The next round started and both boys attacked and blocked swiftly and furiously. Thunk! Everyone stopped moving and stared; Mori's sword was resting on Chojiro's helmet. "You won, Mori! Congrats!" We said, surrounding Mori.

I quickly moved between the masses and hugged Mori. Mori took off his helmet and handed it to Hunny. Then he picked me up and I kissed him. "Congratulations, Mori," I whispered as I wrapped my arms around his neck and we hugged.

Suddenly, I felt a tingly feeling down my spine and I glanced over my shoulder but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I shrugged internally as I returned my attention to celebrating Mori's victory.


	17. Danger Approaches

**Hey readers, thanks for coming back to read this chapter! because no one suggested a single color I had to come up with thirteen random colors then I really did play spin the bottle to determine who wears what color, if some color choice seems strange, that's why. Any ways, I want to thank everyone who followed and, or favorited my story, I love you all! Now go ahead and read the chapter.  
**

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"Come on, people, we're about to open, stop fooling around!" The double doors to the club room opened and my siblings and I just stared at what we saw behind them.

"What's going on?" I dead panned as I stared at the chaos.

Tamaki was chasing the twins around with a bat, Haruhi was sprawled out on the floor, Hunny was gorging himself with cake while Mori stood silently next to him, and Kyoya was yelling at everyone. "Do you think we should leave?" Chizura asked blank faced.

"Yeah, let's book it while we can," Yoite said as he and Chizura turned around.

"where do you think you're going?" The Hitachiin twins asked ominously as they grabbed the two by their shoulders.

"We're leaving," my brother and sister answered immediately.

"Wrong answer, punks," the twins said as they began to drag Yoite and Chizura into the clubroom.

"Should we ask what's going on?" Tadashi asked me in a whisper.

"No, let's just ignore this and get changed," I whispered back, Then raising my voice so Kyoya could hear me, I said, "We're gonna get changed now. Our costumes are in the dressing room, right?"

"Yes," Kyoya said with a push of his glasses as I grabbed Chizura by the collar and Tadashi grabbed Yoite by his collar and we dragged them towards the back. We shoved the troublesome twins into two empty dressing rooms and threw their costumes in after them, then we changed.

When we exited the back room we all stopped and blinked; in the five minutes we were changing the club room went from chaos to calm. "You guys are so fast that it's hard to keep up," Tadashi said sweat-dropping, voicing what we all were thinking. All the hosts were standing still with clean, neat clothing making them look handsome not wild and crazy.

"Hey, is this what it's like to enter _Narnia_?" Sotaru asked.

"I don't think so, there are no fawns; it's more like _Alice in Wonderland_ ," I answered.

"Stop comparing us to books, Bookworm!" The Hitachiin twins said disdainfully.

I think they're the real thing," Chizura whispered.

"Yeah, the only phoney looking one is that guy," Yoite said, pointing at Tamaki.

"What do you mean I'm a phoney?" Tamaki cried outraged. "I'm one hundred percent the real thing!"

"Now that you mention it, something if just off about this guy," the Hitachiin twins said joining in.

"Why are you taking their side?" Tamaki asked as he curled into a ball and started sulking.

"Stop it, it's time to take your places," Kyoya commanded.

"Yes, sir!" We answered saluting him.

As we took our places, I finally took the time to see what everyone was wearing. All the boys are wearing black dress pants, black dress shirts, and a colorful tie with a matching handkerchief in their breast pocket. They also had a black fedora with a colorful band around the base.

Haruhi's color was magenta, Hikaru was wearing neon blue and Kaoru had emerald green on. Tamaki had gold accents, Kyoya had white, Sotaru had an orange-pink coral, Yoite had light purple, Tadashi had yellow, Hunny had royal blue, and Mori was wearing Orange.

Then I looked at us girls and we all were wearing flapper dresses. Aika's dress was black with dark red beads she had a black headband with a dark red feather attached to it. Chizura's dress was black with silver beads and a black headband with a silver feather on it. Finally, my dress was black with pale pink beads and a black headband with a pale pink feather on it.

"Welcome!" We chorused as the door opened and the girls surged in. The room was instantly packed, filled with happy exclamations from the girls. From the second we opened, I was busy non-stop. Since today's theme is American nineteen-twenties and since I somehow got stuck with the job of waitress, I was forced to bring glasses of sparkling juice (because we're all minors) from table to table.

I was nearest to the Hitachiin twins so I brought drinks over to their section first. "Thanks Reiko. It's really sweet of you to think of us, you're really nice," Hikaru said.

"Uh, thanks?"I answered hesitantly. _Hikaru, are you all right? You're acting really weird!_

"Hikaru," Kaoru sniffed. "Do you wish that your twin was a girl instead of me?"

Gently grabbing his brother's face and wiping away the tears, Hikaru said, "Oh, Kaoru, as nice as girls are I would never even dream of having one as my twin. You're the only one for me and nothing will ever some between us!"

"Oh Hikaru!"

 _Bleh! Disgusting!_

"Make way, coming through!" Chizura said, separating the twins with her hand and nonchalantly walking through them.

"What are you doing?" The twins asked with tick marks on their foreheads.

"Bringing drinks to my twin and his guests, what else?" Chizura asked snobbishly. Furry surged through the Hittachiins' eyes for a second then the glanced at each other and smirked before looking at Chizura with a pitying gaze. "What?" She snapped.

"Oh, nothing," Hikaru started. "It's just sad to watch you and your twin."

"Here you are slaving away for your twin and he's ditched you to be with other women," Kaoru continued.

"How sad!" They finished together.

"You're wrong," Chizura said with a flip of her hair.

"Oh, how so?" The twins asked.

"Because there's a section of my heart reserved exclusively for Chizura," Yoite said, wrapping his arms around Chizura's neck.

"It doesn't look that way to us," the twins said blatantly.

"You'd understand if you saw us bathe and sleep together," Yoite said as he pecked Chizura on the cheek.

As the Hitachiins stared angrily and the girls squealed obnoxiously for some reason, I glared at my siblings in disgust as I thought, _liars! You guys haven't bathed or slept together since you were three!_

Once I got more sparkling juice I headed over to where Tamaki, Tadashi, and Aika were. As I began filling the glasses, one girl picked up her glass and held it to the light. "Isn't the way the light dances in the bubbles so beautiful?"

"Yes, but when I see you're lovely face my eyes sparkle twice as much!" Tamaki said.

"Oh, Tamaki!" The girl sighed.

"Hey, if you look at the glass like this you can see the bubbles racing up the side," Tadashi said, gently grabbing the girl's hand while leaning towards her so that she could look up at the glass too. "Did you know that when I'm this close to you my heart races five times as fast as these bubbles?" Tadashi whispered.

"Wow, Tadashi!" She blushed.

Excuse me!" Aika said, tugging on the girl's skirt. "May I please try that?"

"Huh? Of course," the girl said as she lifted Aika onto her lap while the boys pulled back. Aika slowly took a sip of the juice and she wore a big happy bright when she put the glass down. She smiled up at the girl and happily said, "I was right! You are sweeter than this juice!"

"Awe!" The girl beamed as she began fawning over Aika and the boys faces turned to stone.

 _Ha! Your good looks and charms were obliterated by a six year-old's words!_ Giggling quietly to myself, I headed over to Hunny and Mori's area. Hunny was happily chatting with the customers while simultaneously eating cake. I quietly poured the drinks and my face reddened when I felt Mori's gaze on my back. Straightening up, I turned around and looked at him. "Hi," I said quietly with a smile. Mori smiled gently at me and stroked my cheek with his hand. This slight touch made my heart pound in my ears and my whole face turned red so I looked down. "Um, Takashi, are you fre-"

"Rei-chan!" Huuny said as he launched himself onto my back.

"Wah!" I cried out as I was hurled forward since I was completely unprepared for the force of Hunny's jump. "Ow," I muttered as I opened my eyes to find myself flattened against Mori.

"Sorry," Hunny apologized, getting off me. "I just got so excited to see you that I acted without thinking."

"It's... Okay,"I said, slowly straightening up which ended up with me sitting on Mori's lap, my face inches from his. Both our eyes widened and we just stared at each other, barely breathing for what seemed like minutes. I gulped nervously and blinked a few times but refused to move back. I felt Mori's hands slowly some up and press into my neck and head. I pressed my hands into his chest and kissed him.

"Wow, you two look really cute!" Both Mori and I jumped, pulling back as we turned red.

"I-I need to go check on Kyoya's table!" I stammered, quickly running over to Kyoya's table.

"Hey, Reiko, why'd your face so red?" Kyoya asked with a knowing smirk.

"Be quiet!" I snapped. Then I let out a breath and asked, "So what are you selling today?"

With a push of his glasses and a salesman's smile he said, "I'm glad you asked. Today we're offering these exclusive champagne bottles; we have one for every member of the club." He said holding up a champagne bottle with Haruhi's face on it.

"Is that me?" Haruhi asked.

"Don't you think this is ridiculous?" I asked.

Ignoring me and picking up a bottle she said, "Hmm, this is kind of cool. First you get to have a fancy drink then you have a nice decoration, multipurpose. I like it."

 _Of course, it's food, kind of._

"Haruhi likes it, I want one!"

"I want one!'

"I want one!" Girls hollered, crowding around Kyoya.

"Look, Reiko, I'm famous!" Sotaru said, holding up a bottle with his picture on it.

"Get me out of this mad house," I muttered with an eye roll.

"Then why don't you go sign for the shipment of campaign bottles and direct the deliverymen to the abandoned club room down the hall."

"Fine," I said as I turned towards the door and left. I took my time finding the delivery truck and signing. I directed the men to the empty club room and once everything was unloaded they left. I sighed as I turned back towards the school.

I glanced at the clock as I re-entered the school building, ack _! I've been gone for over forty minutes, Kyoya's gonna kill me!_ I started running and abruptly stopped as I started slipping on the marble. "Heels and marbles don't mix," I muttered as I took off my heels. With my heels safely in my hands, I started running down the hall, not slowing down to turn a corner.

Bam! I ran into someone and fell backwards, hitting my head hard against the floor. "Ouch!" I mumbled rubbing my head and sitting up as my eyes watered a bit. I looked up to see it was a man I had run into. "Sorry," I said.

"It's okay," the man said, offering me his hand. I scanned the man as I grabbed his hand and stood up. He appeared to be in his late twenties and was tall, but not as tall as Mori, and he had green eyes and light brown hair in a crew cut. He was wearing a suit, glasses, and had a briefcase.

 _Must be a teacher._

"May I ask you a question?"

"What?" I asked shifting uncomfortably from one leg to the other, wanting to hurry abck to the host club.

"Have I met you before?"

"No," I said with a smile, "I don't go to school here. I'm just helping some friends with their club activities.

"Oh, then could you possibly be Reiko Nakahara?"

"How's you know my name?" I asked taking a step back.

"You see," he said with a smirk. "We've been looking for you."

I ducked when the man lunged at me but I also fell. I managed to scrambled to my feet before he could grab me. I ran desperately down the empty hallway. _If I can make it up those stairs I can make it to the club room!_

"You stop right there, little Miss!" A short heavily built man bowled into me, knocking me to the ground. The man wasted no time slamming a cloth over my mouth as I writhed helplessly underneath his strong hand that was pinned to my collarbone. As I breathed in whatever was in the cloth, my body began to feel heavy and my vision blurred till it faded to black.


	18. In the Belly of the Beast

**Hey readers, I'm back which means it's finally time find out what happens to Reiko, yay! Before you read this chapter though, I would like to thank everyone who followed and/or favorited my story, and all you awesome people who left a review, thanks! You guys rock!**

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My head hurt and my body felt heavy. I groaned as I rolled onto my side and rubbed my forehead. I pressed my hand against my closed eyes and quietly moaned as I pressed my other hand against my stomach. I felt tired, dizzy, nauseous, and my head hurt; I felt absolutely miserable.

I laid still, trying to remember what had happened despite my foggy and slow brain. Then the high pitch screaming sound of metal scraping metal caused me to remove my and open my eyes; I found myself staring at a cement block wall.

 _That's right, I was kidnapped!_ I thought as memorizes of me being kidnapped flashed before my eyes. As I heard the door shut I bolted up tight, turned my body towards the door, and glared at the kidnapper.

"Wow, what a scary face!" The man said mockingly with a smirk. I didn't respond and just glared at the man; it was the man from yesterday, the tall one with brown hair and glasses. With the same smirk still on his face, he walked over to the cot I was on, put his hands on the mattress behind me, leaned in so that his face was inches from mine, and asked, "Cat got you're tongue, Reiko-chan?" A shiver ran down my spine as I scooted back against the cement wall, biting my lip and looking away, fright lacing my eyes. "Don't you know that it's impolite to ignore your elders, Reiko?" He said as he grabbed my chin and forced me to look into his eyes.

"Don't touch me!" I hissed, swatting his hand away.

The man snickered before sitting down next to me saying, "What a brave thing to say when you're trembling."

 _I'm trembling?!_ I thought as I crossed my arms over my chest and clutched my arms to stifle the shaking.

"Aren't you a brave one," he said with a smile that made my insides churn as he ran his hand through my hair.

"Shut up!" I hissed through gritted teeth. A tear escaped from my eye and I quickly wiped the traitor away but the man had seen it and he laughed. My face flushed red so to hide my embarrassment I asked, "Who are you and why did you kidnap me?"

"Oh, you're finally interested?" He asked with a sly smile.

"Yeah. You reprimand me for being rude because I wouldn't speak yet you didn't even introduce yourself. That isn't fair especially since you already know my name." I retorted looking down.

"You're right! Where are my manners? I'm Hiroshi Tanaka."

He held his hand out to shake but I ignored it and asked, "So why did you kidnap me?"

Mr. Tanaka groaned and said with a hint of a whine in his voice, "Calling it kidnapping makes it sound like we're bad-guys."

"That's cause you are."

"No we're not... Call it a temporary change in custody, like you're staying with your uncles. I know we'll have lots of fun together," he whispered the last part as he put his hands on both sides of me and leaned in so his face was an inch from mine. My eyes grew large in terror and I started shaking again.

The hinges squeaked and Mr. Tanak was yanked off the cot and a gruff voice said, "Hitoshi! Stop scaring the poor girl!"

"I'm not, I was just introducing myself to Reiko-cha- ow!" Mr. Tanaka said as the other guy smashed his fist into Mr. Tanaka's head.

"Stop with the excuses! From my view point it looked like sexual assault. Reiko, he didn't do anything to you, did he?" Stunned from what just happened, I simply shook my head 'no' and the man relaxed. "Good, I'll take this pervert out of here now so you just relax. I'll have someone else bring you lunch in about an hour." As he said this, the man dragged Mr. Tanaka out of the room, leaving me to stare in bewilderment at the door.

 _What just happened? That man was clearly the guy who tackled me at Ouran, why was he being so nice?... But more importantly, why the heck was I kidnapped in the first place!_ With a groan, I flopped down onto the cot and stared at the ceiling. After a few minutes, I turned my head to better examine the room I was in. It was a small rectangular room that was as wide as the cot which touched both walls, and two feet of room between the cot and the door. The walls were cement block and painted dull gray, the floor was dirty linoleum and there were no windows; the only light was from a single pitiful light-bulb that hung haphazardly from the ceiling.

 _What a depressing little cell,_ I thought with a frown as I sat back up. I picked at the beading on the flapper dress I was still wearing. _I wish I wasn't wearing this, these spaghetti straps and this short of a dress makes me feel vulnerable. And this pair of nylons with runs in it and the fact that I don't have any shoes makes me look pathetic._ A few tears slid down my cheeks as I took off the stupid headband and threw it on the floor.

I quickly wiped away the tears as I turned towards the wall thinking, _everyone must be panicking back home. Sotaru and Aika must be crying, Tadashi is gonna be storming around making things worse, and Yoite and Chizura are probably too upset to do anything other than explode at everyone else. This sucks, I hope the host club members are a bit more cool headed if not, I'm doomed._

I stared at the wall for what seemed like hours not moving an inch until I heard the high-pitch creaking of the door hinges. Slowly sitting up, I turned around and faced the door to see a tall guy in his mid-twenties and a boy who only looked a few inches taller than me and appeared to be in his late teens. "Hey Reiko-chan, you hungry? We brought you some lunch," the younger guy said cheerfully with a grin on his face as he carried a tray over to me and set it on the cot.

There was a piece of white bread, a bottle of water, and a bowl of something that sort of resembled rice with other food streaked through it. "What's this?" I asked pointing to the rice concoction.

"Um, it's supposed to be fried-rice but I'm not sure if it still is anymore," the boy replied awkwardly. Then hurriedly he said, "It's not like we're giving this to you to be mean, we're eating this too, it's just that..."

"You can't cook," I finished for him.

"Yeah," the boy said with an awkward laugh. "It probably tastes better than it looks... Probably."

I looked at the food suspiciously, I hadn't eaten anything since lunch yesterday so I decided to try it. I timidly grabbed the spoon, I have no idea why they brought me a spoon, and hesitantly brought it up to my mouth. I gulped before shoving the spoon into my mouth. I instantly gagged and swallowed the bite without chewing. I broke open the water-bottle and washed the horrible taste out of my mouth with water. Then I leaned back against the wall, clutched my stomach, and groaned, completely losing my appetite.

"Was it that bad?" The boy asked.

"Yes, do us all a favor and get take-out for dinner."

"It's not that bad," the tall guy said, grabbing the bowl and shoveling the rice stuff into his mouth.

"Ew!" I said, pressing my hand to my mouth. Then a light-bulb appeared above my head. "Hey, you're the guy who grabbed me in the maze at Ouran!" I accused, pointing to the tall guy.

"How'd you know?" He asked between bites.

"Your voice is the same," I said bluntly.

"Yeah, he's a little dense," the younger guy said sweat-dropping as he leaned against the wall opposite me.

An awkward silence ensued but a minute later I broke it asking, "So who are you guys and why did you kidnap me?"

Pointing to the tall guy with brown eyes, shaggy light brown hair, and a straight face the boy said, "That's Shiro Kimura and I'm Izanagi Hamasaki, we work for the Mizushima Company."

Izanagi looked at me as if he expected this to make sense to me but I was just confused so I asked, "What does that have to do with me?"

"You're the daughter of the top executive of the H.&M. Zuka Corporation and friends with the founders' sons and yet you don't know what's going on?"

"Dad doesn't like to talk about work problems at home and Hunny and Mori don't talk about their families' companies' either," I answered defensively.

Izanagi sighed and rubbed his temple as he muttered, "Well that explains why your guard was down."

"What?" I asked looking at the muscular boy who had black shaggy hair and dark green eyes.

"You don't have to tell her," Shiro said as he finished the rice stuff.

"No, I do. She deserves an explanation for why we kidnapped her."

"I'm out of here," Shiro said as he grabbed the tray and left.

With a sigh, Izanagi sat down next to me and said, "As you know, Shiro and I work for the Mizushima company, what you don't know is that the other two: Hitoshi Tanaka and Akihiro Shizuka, work for the H.& M. Zuka Corporation and right now, these two companies are working on entering a partnership with each other. There are members of both companies who are against this partnership."

"Including you four?" I interrupted.

"Yes, including us. Anyways these members decided to stop the partnership from happening, we've tried protests, messing with the paper work, disrupting the computer systems but nothing had worked. So the leaders of this anti-partnership revolt decided that kidnapping someone would be more effective. This resulted in two people from each company being selected to form the kidnapping team. We chose you since you're a girl, you're friends with the sons of the founders not to mention the girlfriend of one of them, and you're the daughter of a top executive of one of the companies; in other words, you have the most leverage. By now the companies should have received a notice that the only way to get you back is by ending the partnership." Izanagi fell silent as he finished his explanation and I remained silent as I absorbed what he said.

 _This deal must be very important if they're still going through with it despite everything that's been done already... I won't be the reason for this partnership falling through, I must escape!_ I was silent for a few minutes, waiting to see if he had anything else to say but Izanagi remained silent. So clearing my throat, I said, "Um, may I go to the bathroom?"

Izanagi jerked his head up as if he had been deep in thought, then he looked at me and smirked, "Sure, follow me." He opened the door and held it open as I walked out.

I glanced around the hallway as he led me to the left of the door. The hallway walls were cement block and there were pot-lights in the ceiling but only about half of them worked; the floor was the same dirt stained linoleum from my cell. My room was situated in the corner of the building and the hallway in front of it split to go left and straight. We had gone down the left corridor and I could see that it ended in a dead-end. _That means the way out is the other way!_

"Here we are," Izanagi said, interrupting my thoughts as he opened a door.

"Thanks," I mumbled as I entered.

Right as I was closing the door, Izanagi leaned in and whispered, "Don't think of trying anything funny like escaping."

 _Did he figure it out!?_ I thought alarmed as I slammed and locked the door. _Go ahead with the plan, even if you're caught you're no worse off than if you hadn't tried at all._ I finished up in the bathroom and washed my hands but I didn't open the door when I was finished; instead, I put my hands on the knob and waited.

Then, Izanagi pounded on the door, "Hurry up-"

BAM! The second I heard pounding, I slammed open the door, ramming it into Izanagi, knocking him down. "Wait! She's escaping!" Izanagi called, as I bolted down the hallway.

I brushed one hand lightly against the wall, using it to steady myself as I half ran half slid across the floor. _Curse you, stupid nylons!_ I past my cell and rounded the corner, I saw a flight of stairs at the end of the hallway so I ran even faster.

"Stop!" I flinched and looked over my shoulder to see Izanagi, Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Shizuka running after me. Fright spread across my features as I looked forward and ran even faster, my adrenaline fueling me. I past two hallways on my left before reaching the stairs. I was about to head up when I saw Shiro on the first landing. He lunged at me and I tried to run but I ended up slipping, falling head-over-heels which caused Shiro to miss me. My heart rang in my ears as I scrambled to my feet and bounded up the steps, looking over my shoulder to see Tanaka, Shizuka, and Shiro running up the stairs behind me. _Where's Izanagi?_ I thought as I reached the first floor and ran forward.

I ran two steps before something bowled into me, sending my to the floor. I tumbled around the ground for a few feet before stopping in a sprawled out mess. My head spun and before I could move, Izanagi was on top of me. H pulled me up and pushed me into the wall. Then he grabbed my wrists, pulled them together behind my back, and pushed them up between my shoulder blades; effectively making me unable to move. As the others reached the top of the stairs, he leaned in and whispered, "You didn't think it would be that easy to escape, now, did you?"


	19. Out of the Frying Pan & Into the Fire

**Hey readers, thanks for coming back to read my next chapter! I'm noy feeling great today so I'll just thank everyone who's reading these words, thanks! Now go read the chapter.**

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SCREEECH! The metal hinges protested as they were forced open, revealing the tiny cell the kidnappers were keeping me in. Izanagi pushed me through the door and I stumbled forward, completely off balance because my wrists were pinned between my shoulder blades. "Sit down," he commanded as he pushed me forward and released my wrists.

I caught myself before my face met the concrete block and I sat down meekly on the bed, doing what I was told. Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Shizuka followed and the three men stood in front of me and down stared at me. I bit my lip and stared down at the floor. _What do they expect me to do? Apologize? No way!_

After two awkward minutes of silence, Shiro entered the tiny cell carrying a chain shackle in his hand. "Sorry, but this is what happens when you disobey us," Mr. Shizuka said as he took the shackle from Shiro and crouched down in front of me. He clasped the shackle around my ankle then he clamped the other end onto a metal bar of the cot. I frowned as I shook my ankle and the chain rattled.

"You brought this on yourself," Shiro commented.

"Well, most people would try to escape if they had the chance, it's really not that surprising," Mr. Shizuka said as he stood up.

"You're too soft on her because she's a girl," Shiro whined.

"He's soft on her because he has three teenage daughters of his own," Izanagi said with a smirk. "And now, Why don't I hold onto the keys?" He said as he took the keys from Shiro.

"No way gofer, you're the bottom rung of the company. The only reason you're here is because of your muscles," Shiro retorted as he snatched the keys out of Izanagi's hand. "Plus, you let her escape."

"And I caught her again," Izanagi said as he took the keys back.

"Who cares about keys? I just want to punish her," Mr. Tanaka said, looking at me up and down.

I shivered and Mr. Shizuka sighed, "Look, give Izanagi the keys but he has to stay to make sure Hitoshi doesn't do anything perverted. Hitoshi, only scare her."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," Mr. Tanaka said, waving the order aside as he looked at me like prey.

"Come on, we have a phone call to make," Mr. Shizuka said as he led Shiro out the door.

While the door creaked shut, Mr. Tanaka took two steps forward, standing at the edge of the cot. I started to creep backwards but he slammed his foot down on the chain, yanking my foot forward. "Ouch!" I cried out as the metal dug into my skin and bone.

"Sorry, did that hurt?" Mr. Tanaka asked in a low seductive whisper as he sat down next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I turned pale as he pulled me onto my lap and whispered in my ear, "Ready to be scared?"

"D-don't touch me!" I stuttered nervously as I pushed him away and tried to climb off his lap.

"Going some where? Sorry to disappoint but you're not leaving, the fun is about to start." As he said this he grabbed my arm and pulled me back up. He pressed my back into his chest as he slammed his hand onto my collar bone, digging his fingers into my skin; I started trembling and I bit my lip to keep from crying out. Then he put his other hand on my waist, his fingers spreading over and caressing my middle. "You scared yet?" Mr. Tanaka asked, his lips tickling my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.

"N-No!" I lied.

"Oh?" Mr. Tanaka chuckled evilly. "Then what if I do this?" He threw me down onto my back, he pinned my wrists above my head with one hand as he leaned over me. "Scared?" I shook my head 'no' as tears formed in the corner of my eyes and my body started trembling even harder. Mr. Tanaka smirked at my stubbornness then he took his free hand and slowly brushed his free thumb down my cheek, across my lips, down my neck and across my collar bone. The tears in my eyes started running down my cheeks and Mr. Tanaka laughed in a low voice. Then slowly, very slowly, he began lowering his face towards mine while his free hand grabbed right above my knee and began working its way up my skirt.

"Stop!" Suddenly Mr. Tanaka was pulled off me and I sat up immediately, clutching my arms over my chest to stop the shaking as I watched Izanagi let go of Mr. Tanaka.

"Why'd you stop me?!" Mr. Tanaka asked clearly pissed.

"Akihiro asked me to make sure you didn't do anything perverted, your hand was trying to go up her skirt, that's perverted."

"Whatever," Mr. Tanaka muttered as he slumped angrily against the wall.

As the room fell quiet I let out a sigh and my body relaxed. Nobody said a word, heck, we barely moved for a good ten to fifteen minutes; then the door creaked open and Shiro and Mr. Shizuka entered. Mr. Shizuka was holding a phone and he had a smug look on his face. "They're getting Mr. Nakahara sight now."

"Now the Little Princess can beg for her daddy to save her from us," Shiro said with satisfaction.

 _So that's their angle. I thought it was weird that Mr. Shizuka let Mr. Tanaka torment me when he was so against it earlier but now it makes sense. He wanted Mr. Tanaka to scare me so that when they called dad I would beg to be saved, which can only happen if they end the partnership. Well too bad for them, I won't ask to be saved!_

"Hello, Mr. Nakahara? Yes, I'm the one who has your beloved Reiko-chan..." I was jolted out of my thoughts as I realized that Mr. Shizuka had gotten a hold of my father. "Yes, that's right, if you call off the deal we'll deliver your daughter to you safe and sound... Yes, you can talk to her."

"Beg your dad to save you," Mr. Tanaka whispered as Mr. Shizuka handed me the phone.

"Dad?" I asked hesitantly.

"Reiko! Is that you? Are you okay? Did they do anything to you? Are you scared? Are they threatening you?"

The second he heard my voice, dad bombarded me with questions and the concern in his voice broke my heart and brought tears to my eyes but I steadied my nerves and said. "Dad, calm down! I'm fine, I'm still a virgin, and I'm not scared or hurt so whatever you do don't break off the dea-"

With veins popping out of his forehead, Mr. Shizuka snatched the phone out of my hand and ordered the others, "Izanagi, turn this onto speaker phone. I'm leaving because I can't stomach this but, Shiro and Hitoshi, make her cry."

Mr. Shizuka tossed the phone to Izanagi ans Shiro and Mr. Tanaka smirked slyly as they looked at me. A chill zinged up my back and I tried to back away but Shiro grabbed my upper arm, pulling me forward, then he punched me in the nose. Blood spurted everywhere as I cried out and clasped my bleeding nose.

"Reiko, what happened!? What did they do to you!?"

 _Arg! Dad heard that._ "Nothing, I'm fine!" I said through the waterfall of blood flowing over my lips.

"Hey, Hitoshi, she say's she's fine," Shiro said slyly.

"Yeah, I'll fix that," Mr. Tanaka said as he grabbed my collarbone and socked me in the gut. I gagged and spewed bile all over the floor.

"Reiko! What just happened!?" Dad asked, clearly distressed.

"Nothing!" I yelled between coughing fits.

"My turn!" Shiro sang as he grabbed my right arm and yanked it out of its socket. I cried out in intense pain as I grabbed my arm with my left hand.

"Reiko, what happened?!"

Dad sounded panicked but before I could say anything, Mr. Tanaka cracked his knuckles and said, "Last but not least, Hitoshi will take his last shot at the Little Princess."

"Stop!" Dad protested through the phone as Mr. Tanaka pushed me down on the the cot as he flipped out a pocket knife, slashing me diagonally from the top of my collar bone to the top of my breast.

I screamed out in pain as blood oozed out of the gash and I pressed my hand against the cut. "Reiko!? Reiko!? I can't let them do this to you, I'm going to call off-"

"If you end the partnership I'll never speak to you again!" I yelled, cutting dad off as my body shook with pain and tears rolled down my face.

Shiro grinned evilly at me as he watched the tears fall off my cheeks and listened to me trying not to sob but epically failing. "There you have it, Mr. Nakahara, if you don't call off the deal you'll never see your daughter again." As he said this, Shiro grabbed the phone from Izanagi and ended the call.

"Alright, let's go celebrate, Hitoshi. Izanagi, you stay here and keep an eye on the brat."

The door screeched shut behind them and I curled up in a ball defeated, softly crying as I tried to deal with the pain. Izanagi sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed; he kept glancing at his watch as if he was waiting for something.

A few minutes after the others had left his phone went off. "Hello, dad?" What took you so long?... Yeah, it's just me and Reiko... Five minutes, got it." Izanagi clicked off his phone and turned towards me with a grin. "Ready to go?" He asked.

"What?" I asked sitting up and staring in confusion at Izanagi who was unlocking the shackle around my ankle. "What are you doing?"

"Helping you escape," he replied cheerfully. I stared at him in bewilderment and he laughed. "You're a brave one, Reiko. Your father is going to be really proud of you, not many people could endure what you did and still put others before yourself. I really love that about you." Izanagi whispered as he leaned in towards me. Then he gently grabbed my shoulder and dislocated arm. "This will hurt a bit," he whispered as he snapped it back into place. I gasped but the pain quickly disappeared and I was able to move my arm again. "Let's disinfect the gash," he said quietly, reaching into the pillowcase and pulling out bandages and disinfectant. "I figured they'd do something to you so I prepared myself beforehand."

"Why?" I asked, pausing to cringe as he sprayed my cut. "Why are you doing this?"

Izanagi chuckled as he pushed the spaghetti straps down. He placed gauze pads as on the wounds and started wrapping the bandages over them as he said, "Let me reintroduce myself, I'm Yoichi Mizushima."

"Mizushima as in the son of the founder and C.E.O. of the Mizushima Company?!" I said in disbelief.

"Yep, that's me!... Your nose has stopped bleeding, right? Wipe the blood off your face with this," Iza-er Yoichi handed me some bandages that he'd pour the remaining water from my water-bottle onto. I took them and quickly wiped the blood off my face. "Alright," Yoichi said cheeking his watch, "Let's go!"

He grabbed my hand and led me out of the cell. We ran down the hall towards the stairs but then he suddenly turned down an adjacent hallway. "We're taking the emergency stairs," he said in explanation as he led me up a set of narrow steps. When we reached the main floor, he cracked open the door and looked out. "Clear!" He hissed as he quickly dragged me towards a door with an 'exit' sigh above it. "Almost there," Yoichi whispered when we were a few feet from the door.

My eyes lit up in excitement and I squeezed Yoichi's hand in anticipation. BANG! Both Yoichi and I froze in our tracks and stiffly turned around to find ourselves face-to face with Mr. Tanaka, gun in hand. "Looks like you were right, Shiro, Izanagi isn't a gopher, he's a rat!" Mr. Tanaka hissed.

"Don't you know that it's rude to point a gun at a lady?" Yoichi asked wryly.

"Then I'll point the gun at you," Mr. Tanaka said, quickly turning the gun on Yoichi.

Either one of you moves and he'll shoot," Shiro said threateningly.

I gulped nervously and my body started to shake undre the glare of the gun. I glanced at Yoichi to see that he was sweating bullets despite the smile on his face. _What should I do? What should I do!?_

Suddenly, Yoichi pulled me in front of him and placed his hands on the back of my neck and the side of my face. "Put the gun down or I'll kill her." My heart pounded in my ears and I didn't hear what the two said afterwards but eventually, Mr. Tanaka slowly placed the gun on the ground. "Don't move," Yoichi commanded as he slowly started stepping backwards towards the door.

I heard a faint thumping and I looked right to see Mr. Shizuka running towards us with a gun. "Look out!" I yelled.

BANG!


	20. The End? Or Not

**Hey readers, I'm back! You finally get to find out what happens! Yay! Because last time I ended in a cliff hanger I'll keep this brief, I just want to thank everyone who's followed, favorited, and, or reviewed since the last chapter; you guys are the best!**

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BANG! Blood splattered onto the ground and pain zinged up my arm. I fell to the floor clutching my right arm. "Reiko!" Yoichi yelled, crouching down next to me. "Bastard!" He yelled turning towards Mr. Shizuka.

"I-it's her f-fault for shoving you out of the way!" Mr. Shizuka stuttered horrified, as he dropped the gun and backed away.

I winced and tears fell down my cheeks as I squinted open my eyes and slowly parted my fingers a bit. Blood flowed through my fingers, down my arm and onto the floor.

"We need to get this treated quickly!" Yoichi said as he bent over and picked me up, cradling me in his arms.

"Don't just stand there, get them!" Mr. Tanaka ordered Shiro after getting over the initial shock.

"Don't worry about my wound, just run!" I hissed as Yoichi looked hesitantly at me. Toichi's eyes hardened and he nodded his head, then he sprinted towards the door. Yoichi reached the eyes in a few strides and flung it open, slamming it shut behind him; then he slammed himself against the next door, pushing it open. Not slowing down, he flew down the steps and ran down the sidewalk.

I quickly glanced around to see that we were in a bad part of town. All the buildings were rundown, most of them were boarded up those that weren't had smashed windows. All the vegetation was over-grown, litter embellished the ground, and the air had a sour scent to it. No one was in sight, it was eerily quiet, only the sound of Yoishi's and Shiro's footsteps echoed in the unnatural silence.

As Yoichi rounded a corner I saw that Shiro was gaining, fast. "Hey Prince Gofer, if you give the Little Princess back to us we'll forget your little betrayal and let you go."

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Yoichi just kept running. "Put me down," I whispered.

"What?!" Yoichi puffed breathlessly.

"At this rate both of us will get caught, if you leave me at least you can escape," I said in a low voice. _Besides, this wound needs to be treated..._

"No," Yoichi said trying to run faster

"Hello!" Right as Yoichi was about to run down a side street, Shiro appeared in front of us. "Be a good boy, Izanagi, and hand her over!" Shiro sang with a smirk.

"H-how?" Yoichi asked.

"One word: alleys!" Shiro said, looking smug. "Now give me the Little Princess, we'll take good care of her." With a dark expression, Yoichi slowly set me down onto my feet and supported me as we slowly walked over to Shiro. "Good choice. I guess even the Prince of the Gofers had bra-"

Yoichi punched Shiro and sent him flying while he ran madly into an nearby alley pulling me behind him. We clomped hurriedly down the alley, randomly taking lefts and rights as we got lost in the city labyrinth of back alleys. "Bastard! You and your princess will pay for this!" Shiro yelled as he followed us, quickly gaining on us.

Then we reached a split in the alley. "Which way?" I asked as we approached it feeling very dizzy from the loss of blood.

"I'll go left, you go right; and here," Yoichi said, handing me an expensive looking watch. "There's a tracker in it that our companies are using to find us. Now Go!"

Yoichi pushed me right before I could protest so I continued running and didn't look back. I ran down the alley as fast as I could, clutching my bleeding arm that was mercilessly spewing blood. My feet ached and I was horribly dizzy and nauseous but I kept running until I encountered _it_ ; a ten-foot high solid brick wall.

 _Oh, no._ I could here Shiro behind me and in a panic I scrambled awkwardly onto a dumpster, tearing my nylons and dress as I did so. Once on the dumpster, I slowly pulled myself onto the wall, though I did have to use my injured arm which just made the bleeding worse. As I crawled onto the top of the wall my vision started turning black, I clutched my arm desperately and rested my head on the brick as I forcefully steadied my breathing. _Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out._ Eventually this worked and my vision started coming back. _Whew, I escaped passing out, that would have been bad._

"Oh, you're not going to pass out?" I froze and slowly lifted my head to see Shiro straddling the wall in front of me.

"How?"

"I just followed your trail of blood," he replied with a smirk. "Now let's go."

I bowed my head, resigning myself to fate. _I'm too weak to fight back at all._ I watched as Shiro jumped down onto the dumpster and leaned towards me, reaching out to grab me. I closed my eyes when his hands we're inches from my body. Then I was pulled off the wall but not forwards towards Shiro, but backwards.

I felt myself land in strong gentle arms, my head resting against a strong toned chest. As I heard Shiro curse I opened my eyes and looked up to see Mori's face looking worriedly down at me. "Mori," I whispered as I smiled, tears streaming down my cheeks as I stated to sob softly.

"Bastard! Give that girl back to me! She's..." Shiro stopped when he jumped over the wall and saw that it was Mori holding me. Shiro's face turned ashen but before he could move a muscle, Mori's fist collided with Shiro's face, smashing him into the wall and knocking him out.

"Reiko, are you okay? What happened?"" Mori asked as he glanced with concern at my arm.

"A bullet just grazed me, I'm fine now that you're here..." I mumbled as my last strand of consciousness snapped and I was plunged into darkness.

 **XXXXXXX**

I groaned as I regained consciousness. My head and arm ached badly and I felt dizzy, light-headed, and my body was very heavy. I felt somebody squeeze my left hand and I forced open my eyes, looking up I found myself staring into Mori's face. He had a slight smile and he let out a sigh that sounded like he had been holding it for a while. Mori's eyes were filled with relief as he leaned over the rail and gently kissed my forehead. "Takashi," I breathed as I lifted up my left hand to touch his face which was surprisingly difficult since I had an I.V. Attached to my hand.

"Reiko!" I looked up to see dad, Mr. Morinozuka, Mr. Haninozuka, and another man who I assumed to be Mr. Mizushima. "Reiko, I'm so glad you're awake, how're you doing?"

"Better, especially now that I'm safe," I said in a low voice as my eyes started to water, recalling everything that had happened.

"I', glad you're doing better. Because of you, we were able to avoid ending the partnership which ultimately would have hurt both companies," Mr. Haninozuka said approvingly.

"How's Yoichi?" I asked.

"He's fine, he escaped with only a few bumps and bruises," Mr. Mizushima said with a grin. Then his face turned brooding as he continued, "Though from what Yoichi told me things would have ended differently if you hadn't pushed him. He probably wold be dead if you hadn't done that and you'd still be at the kidnappers mercy."

I grinned sheepishly and shrugged, "He jeopardized himself to save me, the least I could do was so the same for him."

"You're a very brave girl," Mr. Morinozuka said softly. "Takashi's very lucky to have you as his girlfriend."

"Thanks," I mumbled as me cheeks flushed red.

After this, all the men except my dad and Mori excused themselves to give us some time alone. "How long do I have to stay here?" I asked wearily.

"At least overnight," dad answered. "You were unconscious for over four hours and you had to have a blood transfusion, plus you're still on an I.V."

"Okay," I sighed. "How did everyone deal with me being kidnapped?"

"Sotaru and Aika cried but Hunny and Tamaki distracted and took care of them so I could focus on the investigation. Yoite and Chizura were snapping at everyone but the twins managed to calm them down by teasing them, and Tadashi was storming around making things worse but Kyoya and Haruhi managed to calm him down. All the hosts really helped a lot but most impressive of all was Mori," dad said putting a hand on Mori's shoulder. "He's helped lead the investigation from the start. His calmness helped the investigation proceed smoothly and he was able to calm me down saying we should trust you when you insisted on not ending the partnership. He's a fine young man."

A light blush spread across Mori's cheeks and I smiled. Using every once of strength I possessed, I sat up and said softly, "Of course he is, he is my boyfriend after all." Then I pecked Mori on the lips. _No long kisses in front of dad, that would be embarrassing._ I thought as I laid back down.

"You need to rest so we'll leave now," dad said, kissing me on the forehead.

"Wait, can you send everyone else up so that I can see them just for a few minutes?" I asked quietly.

Dad was silent for a moment, then he said, "Fine, but only for five minutes then you need to rest." I nodded and dad turned towards Mori. "Could you go get them? I need to join your father and the others. Mori nodded and the two left.

I sighed peacefully as I leaned back against the pillows. A minute late I heard the door open, I looked up expectantly but was surprised to see Yoichi in the doorway. "Hey Reiko! Glad to see you're awake!" Yoichi said with a goofy grin as he ambled over to the side of my bed.

"Thanks," I said with a small smile. "How are you?"

"Fine, I'm fine though I do feel bad about your arm."

"It's okay, it's not your fault. It will heal up fast and be as good as new! If you had gotten hit you wouldn't have healed up like me if you had even been able to heal at all." I replied sheepishly. I glanced up at Yoichi and I could tell there was more he wanted to say. "What did you come here for?"

"Oh, nothing," Yoichi said nonchalantly, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I just wanted to tell you that you're the bravest, nicest, most level-headed, selfless, and most beautiful girl I've ever met. I also want to properly thank you for saving my life back there."

"Properly? What do you mean by th-"

Yoichi grabbed my chin and cut me off by gluing his lips to mine. I was stunned; my eyes grew large, my cheeks turned scarlet, and my body froze. Then a split second later I realized what was happening and I tried to push Yoichi away but he was too strong and I was still very weak.

SLAM! The next thing I knew Yoichi was laying on the ground with a bruising jaw and Mori was standing next to me glaring furiously down at him. "Why'd you kiss her?" Takashi asked in a low but threatening voice.

"I was just thanking her. It was just a kiss, no big deal."

I gasped when I heard him say that and tears formed in my eyes and slid down my cheeks. _It may not be a big deal for you but it is for me!_

Mori picked Yoichi up by his collar and slammed him against the wall. Glaring at him with eyes that could kill, Mori hissed in a low voice, "Bastard, you made her cry!"

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 **Okay, how'd you like that? This is what happens when you're writing a chapter that you originally intended to be the second to last before you get the _brilliant_ idea that you don't actually want to end the story here because you've done that before, so instead you decide to keep going. I hope you enjoy what's coming next because, honestly, I think I'm crazy for doing this.**


	21. Together Again

**Hi guys, I'm back with this next chapter, I hope you enjoy it! Also, I quickly want to thank everyone who followed, favorited, and, or reviewed my story; thumbs up to you guys! Alright, I'm done, go ahead and read this chapter!**

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It was the day after I was released from the hospital. Since I just got released so I was able to skip school today so right now I'm home alone because my siblings haven't come back from school yet. I sighed as I looked up from my book and glanced at my poor right arm that hung limply in a sling. Let me tell you, it's very, _very,_ annoying to lose your dominant arm.

I grumbled in frustration as I tussled awkwardly with the book I was reading as I attempted to turn the page. Once I finally managed to turn the page I leaned back on the plush sofa, ready to enjoy the two pages I had worked so hard to get; then, the doorbell rang. My forehead scrunched in irritation as I reluctantly set my book down and got off the sofa.

I trudged to the door and slowly opened it and when I looked up to see who it was a grin broke out across my face. "Mori!" I cried happily, slinging my good arm around his neck as I stood up on my tip-toes to kiss him briefly on the cheek. "What are you doing here?"

A small smile danced on Mori's lips as he ran his fingers through my hair and down the side of my face. "I came to get you."

"For what?" I asked with a quizzical look on my face.

"... It's a surprise," Mori said, sweeping me off his feet and carrying me to his car.

"Put me down, I'm not going to leave my book if I don't know where we're going," I protested, kicking my feet.

Mori said nothing but he gently and firmly shoved me into the car before sliding in next to me and handing me a book.  
This is one of my favorites... Let's read it together." Mori said as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close.

My cheeks flushed but I willing pressed my body against Takashi's and mumbled, "Okay," as I opened the book. I quickly became absorbed by the book, I didn't even notice when Mori wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Reiko..." I was in the middle of chapter six when all of a sudden the book was yanked from my hands.

"Huh? Why'd you do that? I was read-"

Mori placed his finger on my lips to stop me and with a small smile he said, "We're here." I blushed but said nothing, I simply grabbed the hand that Takashi offered me and got out of the car. I saw we were at Ouran and instantly my thought went to the host club.

 _I wonder what they're planning? The next event isn't for another two weeks._ Hand-in-hand we walked to into the school and up to the music room. Mori opened the door and I blinked in surprise; all the lights were off and it was eerily silent. "What's going on-"

"Surprise!" The lights blinked on and the hosts, my siblings, and the guests all jumped out from behind the furniture.

"What?"

"Surprised?" Tamaki asked coming forward. I just blinked as I continued looking around the room so Tamaki gave his princely smile and spun dramatically around the room saying, "Reiko, our dear heroic princess, this is a party thrown in your honor to celebrate you safe return and the completion of the partnership between the H.& M. Corporation and the Mizushima Company which was brought about by your efforts!"

Everyone cheered and I blushed as Mori pushed me forward. "Reiko!" Both Aika and Sotaru ran up to me and hugged me. "We're so glad you're back!"

"Sorry for worrying you," I whispered, rubbing their heads.

"Now that Miss Slow-poke is here can we get this party started?" Chizura asked with a bored tone.

"Yeah, I'm hungry," Yoite added.

I rolled me eyes at their comments and Kyoya said, "Yes, we can now start the party but first-"

"You need to change!" The Hitachiin twins said with devilish grins as they came up beside me. Then the grabbed me and dragged me into the back where they threw me into a dressing room. "Come out when you don't look like a pauper anymore!" They called out as the door shut behind them.

 _Pauper?_ I thought a little ticked. I let out a sigh as I looked down at what I was wearing, loose shorts and a baggy T-shirt. _I see what they mean, especially compared to their nice suits and dresses I really do look out of place, thought, these clothes are nicer than what paupers wear!_

Shaking my head in annoyance, amusement, and resignation; I turned towards the dress that was hung up. It was a white sundress with ruffled sleeves that rested on the shoulder. The collar was a low scoop neck that was slightly gathered in the middle with a thin red ribbon weaving in and out of around the collar, ending in a bow at the center. The dress flowed to the waist where it was gathered a bit, there also was a big red sash to tie around the waist and from there the dress flowed loosely to the bottom of my knees where an inch of red fabric stuck out underneath.

"Pretty," I breathed as I fingered the dress then I quickly stripped, eager to get into the dress. With a bit of effort, I was able to pull on the dress without hurting my injured arm too much. I slipped my left arm into its sleeve but I let the other sleeve hang limply under my hurt arm; big sleeves I could safely maneuver over my wound but short sleeves hurt too much to bother with. Then, when I went to tie the sash, I relived that it was impossible with one hand so I slipped into the one-inch red heels that were set aside for me and walked out of the dressing room.

When I exited the dressing room I was surprised to see, Mori waiting for me in a navy suit and red tie. I looked up into Mori's eyes that were gazing softly down at me. Giving a sweet smile, I turned around and asked, "Takashi, would you please tie this for me?"

Mori nodded before grabbing the ends of the sash. I felt the sash slowly close around my waist as Mori began tying the sash into a bow. "... You're waist is small." Mori mumbled as he finished tying the sash.

"Thanks," I said quietly, my cheeks hot with a faint blush.

Not saying another word, Mori offered me his arm and I timidly took it, then he led me into the club room. Music was playing, the scent of good food wafted through the air, and the lively chatter filled the atmosphere. "Looking good you two!" Tadashi said as he snapped a picture of us with his phone and flashed a goofy grin. My cheeks turned red ans I glanced up at Mori to see a very faint pink tint to his cheeks. Tadashi laughed at our reactions as he came over to me and gave me a hug. "You did good when you were kidnapped. I'm proud of you but It's good to have you back."

"Thanks, it's good to be back," I said as we separated.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up to see Kyoya who said, "I was there when your kidnappers called and I was pleasantly surprised by your stubbornness. You did well and it's good to have you back."

"Thanks, Kyoya." _I think._

"Rei-chan!" Hunny yelled as he slammed into me with a strong hug. "It was so scary when you were kidnapped, especially when they called asking to end the deal. Hearing you cry out in pain was terrifying! I'm so glad you were able to come back safe and sound!"

"Me too," I said stepping back, rubbing my sore arm that Hunny had slammed into.

"It's good to have you back, Rieko," Haruhi said simply as she came over to me and hugged me.

"Thanks," I whispered as I squeezed her back.

After this we all dispersed and Mori and I grabbed some food. I sat down first and while I was eating the Hitachiin twins came over, sliding into the seats across from me with devilish grins. "What?" I asked cautiously, eyeing their expressions.

"Oh, nothing," Hikaru said, leaning across the table, tugging at the sleeve hanging limply beneath my right arm. "It's just that we aren't used to you purposely showing off skin."

"Maybe you're trying to seduce somebody, Mori perhaps," Kaoru said, lowering an arm around the back of my chair as my cheeks colored.

Then, as they both leaned in they whispered, "Or maybe you're trying to seduce us."

I could feel the twins' hot breath as they leaned in, I leaned back but I could only move so far. "Stop!" I exclaimed, trying to push them back with my one good arm but they simply grinned and leaned closer.

BAM! Faster than I could blink, the twins were knocked forward off their chairs and onto the floor. I looked up to see Mori standing there with his hands in fists that were slightly red and a hard glare aimed at the twins. "S-sorry, Mori!" Hikaru started with a forced grin.

"We were just teasing her," Kaoru continued.

Then as they stood up they finished, "We won't do it again."

"... Good," Mori saw as his face relaxed and he slid into the seat to my right, putting his left hand onto my back.

"Ha! The Hitachiin twins looked really subdued, what happened?" Chizura and Yoite asked as they walked up casually and leaned against the table. I told them what happened and they burst out laughing.

"Ha, Ha! They messed with the princess and they got struck down by her prince!" Chizura cried in delight, clutching her sides.

"The look on your face must have been terrifying to make them quiet!" Yoite said as he wiped tears from his eyes. "But you know, they do have a point. Wearing your dress like that does kind of remind you of a slut." When he said this, both Chizura and Yoite started laughing.

My ears burned red in embarrassment from the comment and because of their behavior. When I glanced at Mori I could see his eyes blazing. "When you mess with the bull then you're gonna get the horns,," Tadashi said to Yoite and Chizura as he passed by them.

"Huh?" They asked as they looked at Mori and froze.

"Apologize," he said, staring at them like prey.

"We're sorry."

"It was a joke," Chizura and Yoite said quickly, hurriedly getting up and crossing over to the other side of the room.

The flames in Takshi's eyes weren't cooling down even though he looked completely cool in every other way. "Mori?" I asked, looking at him in concern.

"... I'll get some more punch." I looked helplessly at Takashi as he left abruptly and headed towards the refreshments.

"Why is he so sensitive to these comments? Everyone knows that the twins are just being their idiotic selves," I mussed.

"It's because no man likes people insulting their girl even in a jest." I jumped and looked up to see Tamaki. He gave a princely smile and slid into a seat, Leaning forward with an eager grin, he said in an eager voice, "Another reason why he's so mad is because he bought that dress you're wearing. He picked it out just for you!"

"He did?" I asked, turning very scarlet as I looked down at the beautiful dress I was wearing.

"Yes!" Tamaki said with an excited smile as he nodded eagerly like a kid.

Taking a deep breath, I got up and walked over to the refreshment table and walked up to Mori. "Here," he said, handing me a cup.

"Thanks," I said quietly, taking the cup from him. I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. I looked up at Mori but he was already halfway to our table. Takashi sat down but I didn't, I simply set my cup on the table and Mori looked up at me quizzically. I took a deep breath before leaning down and kissing Mori on the lips, wrapping my good arm around his neck.

I felt Mori stiffen for a second, then he wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me onto his lap. When we separated, he smiled and gently stroked back my hair and asked in a low voice, "What was that for?"

"A thank-you for this dress. Thank you so much!" I answered as I pulled my knees to my chest and leaned my head against Mori's chest.

Takashi wrapped his arms around me, bent his head down, and kissed me on the forehead. "You're welcome."


	22. A Nuisance Turned Nightmare

**Hey readers, I'm back with this next chapter of _The Nakahara Cast!_ I hope you like it, things start to get exciting again in this chapter; well, at least the plot starts moving along again, so enjoy!**

 **One last thing, a big shout out and thanks to all those who favorited, followed, and, or reviewed; you guys rock!**

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"Aarrg!" I cried in frustration as I rumpled my hair with my good hand and glared in agitation at my laptop. I have a paper due for school in two days but I'm progressing at a snail's pace courtesy of my bum right arm which is tied up in a sling. I sighed as I rested my head in the palm of my hand and glanced at my outline. The letters were big and horrendously scrawled out, barely legible even to my keen eyes; this is what happens when you lose your dominant hand. I glanced at my computer screen and the pitiful beginnings of a paragraph, typing with one hand sucks and takes forever!

Five minutes later I decided it was time that I stopped mopping and just sucked it up and did it when I heard the doorbell ring. "I'll get it!" Sotaru called. I strained my ears to listen, trying to figure out who it was but it was no use, I could only hear muffled voices coming up the stairs. With a sigh, I gave up on eaves dropping and turned my attention back to my paper.

I was in the middle of awkwardly clunking out a sentence when I heard feet banging up the steps. A second later Aika pocked her head into the room and said, "There's a guy here to see you!"

"Who?" I asked but Aika was already on her way back down the steps. "Sotaru! Send him up, I'm in the study!" I yelled out the door. Returning my focus to the unfinished sentence, I thought, _Who could it be? It can't be Mori, host club activities don't end for another hour. Maybe a classmate? Arg! Who cares? I just hope he leaves quickly so that I can finish my paper._

As I smacked down the period, a pair of hands covered my eyes. "Guess who?!" A male voice sang behind me.

My body stiffened and my lips curled into a frown. "Yoichi?" I said in a low voice.

"Right!" Yoichi replied as he took his hands off my eyes.

I turned my head to look/glare at Yoichi to see him standing there in a graphic white T-shirt and dark gray cargo pants with a stupid grin on his face. With a "humph!" I turned back to my laptop and started typing again without another word.

"Aw, are you still mad about last time?" Yoichi asked as he pulled a chair over from another desk, sat on it, and leaned forward to peer up at me. I bit my tongue and stubbornly refused to talk or even look at Yoichi; instead, I kept slowly tapping away at the keys on my laptop. "The silent treatment, huh?" Yoichi said. "That's a little mean."

Tap, tap, tap.

"Aren't you going to say anything? Perhaps call me a jerk?"

Tap, tap, tap.

"Please say something, Reiko-chan!"

Tap, tap, tap.

"..." Yoichi leaned in and whispered in my ear, "If you don't say anything I'll kiss you again."

The reaction was immediate. My cheeks flamed red, my index finger jammed into the e key, and my body stiffened. Two seconds later my brain processed the information I'd just heard and I realized Yoichi was slowly leaning in to kiss me.

Glaring daggers at him, I shoved Yoichi back and snapped in a low voice, "What are you doing here?"

Yoichi grinned and said, "I'm here to see you!"

"Obviously." I sighed, turning back to my computer and said with a hint of annoyance creeping into my voice, "Sorry, but I don't have time to chat. This paper is due in a few days and it's taking forever to finish since I can only use one hand." _So why don't you just leave?_ I thought the last part but I couldn't say it, darn my good upbringing!

"That's okay," Yoichi said, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on my desk. "I'll just watch you."

"Get your feet off my desk," I muttered grouchily.

"Anything for you, Reiko-chan! Your wish is my command," Yoichi said flippantly, taking his feet off my desk.

"Really?" I asked skeptically. "If my wish really is your command then stop talking. I need to be able to concentrate."

"Sure, for five minutes."

"So you get to tweak the commands for your own convenience," I muttered as I continued typing. In the silent five minutes that Yoichi had so graciously given me, I was able to finish my first paragraph. The instant his five minutes were up though, Yoichi started rambling about all sorts of things: the relationships and condition of our companies, sports teams, and various other things that I could completely tuned out. The advantage of coming from a large family where it's constantly noisy is that I've become very good at tuning people out. _Great! Two paragraphs down! Now onto the thir-_

"Fwooo!"

"Ack!" I yelped, grabbing the back of my neck and glaring up at Yoichi who was standing behind me smirking, satisfied with my reaction to him blowing on the base of my neck. "What was that for?!" I demanded angrily.

"I've been trying to get your attention for the past two minutes, this is the only thing that worked."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to my computer screen. "What did you want to say?"

"I forgot, it must not have been important," Yoichi said with a flippant shrug.

"So in other words, you bothered me for nothing!" I spat angrily, turning back to my paper. "Look, this may come as a shock to you but I take my grades seriously. Like I said earlier, this paper is due in two days and if you haven't noticed, I'm severely handicapped by the fact that I don't have two hands so I'm already progressing slowly. And you," I said, looking accusingly at Yoichi, "Are hindering my progress even more by constantly interrupting me, so will you _please_ shut up or leave!"

"Wow, you're scary when you're mad," Yoichi said playfully. I ignored his comment and just kept typing. Suddenly, the keyboard disappeared right under my fingertips.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" I exclaimed angrily as Yoichi set the laptop down on the desk in front of him.

"I just had a really great idea!" Yoichi said, looking at me with a lopsided grin. "What if I type for you?"

"What?"

"It would be great," he said, interrupting me. "You tell me what you want to write and I'll type it, that way I can spend time with you and you'll get your paper done; it's a win, win!"

I was silent for a moment as I chewed my lip hesitantly. "Fine," I said. "But no commenting on what I say and no cracking jokes."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Yoichi said saluting me before turning to my laptop.

After this we finally settled down to finishing my paper. In about forty minutes, my rough draft was finished. Yoichi asked if he could print it out and proof read it. I gave him the okay and a few minutes later he handed the paper back to me, sprinkled with red marks here and there.

"Wow, these are great comments. I guess even you can be serious when you want to be, impressive."

"Thanks," Yoichi said, flashing a smile. "Even though I may not look the part, I am the future successor of the Mizushima Company and a college student. Though you seem pretty smart yourself, your paper is really good, especially for a rough draft."

"Thanks," I mumbled, my cheeks coloring slightly. Silence filled the room and after a few awkward seconds, I cleared my throat and said, "So you're a college student. Which year?"

"I'm finishing up my sophomore year," Yoichi said nonchalantly, putting his feet back up on the desk.

With a vein popping out of my forehead, I turned towards Yoichi and stood up, I lifted his feet off the desk and shoved them down onto the floor. As I did this I asked, "So that means you are how old?"

"Twenty," Yoichi replied, straightening up and propping his chin up with his hands, his elbows resting on my desk as he looked up at me.

I glanced down at him and when our eyes met I froze, his gaze was seeping into my body, it felt like he was not looking at me but at my soul. I felt naked under his gaze and my body started to tremble slightly. I gulped nervously and took a step back.

The second I started moving, Yoichi lunged forward and grabbed my wrist. He pushed me back and pinned me against the desk, his lower body crushing mine. I was trembling and leaning back above the desk. I glanced up at Yoichi to see him looking down at me with a soft, troubled, and longing, look in his eye. Yoichi's conflicted look made me freeze; I could tell that he liked me. A part of my heart panged for him but I love Mori, so his gaze made me feel like a cornered animal. My body stiffened when I felt his free hand brush across my cheek. It glided down my neck and across my collar bone, it lingered hesitantly above my cleavage.

"Yoichi, stop!" I whispered as my body started trembling again.

"Now why would I do that?" Yoichi whispered as he grabbed my chin and tilted it up, forcing me to look him in the eyes. Tears formed in the corners of my eyes, he smirked and started closing the gap between us. I struggled but it was no use, he was too strong.

I heard a faint thump of foot steps approaching and I looked over Yoichi's shoulder to see Takashi standing there, frozen in shock. My eyes grew round and I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out.

Yoichi noticed my change and paused, he looked over his shoulder to see Mori standing in the doorway. He smirked when he saw Mori's expression; then he straightened up and released me. I took a few hurried steps away from Yoichi then sank into a desk chair trembling.

As I took a few deep breaths to calm my nerves, I glanced at Mori and my heart sank when our eyes met. His eyes were hard and cold, his body rigid and after looking at me for a few seconds, he yanked his gaze away. He was furious, but not just at Yoichi but at me too.

Yoichi grinned his playful grin, completely delighted with the tension in the room. Then he said, "Hey, Mori, fancy meeting you here. Takashi was silent, he just glared at Yoichi who continued unfazed, "Cat got your tongue? Or is this the silent treatment? Your girlfriend already did that so, sorry, but it's not going to work" Mori remained stoic, he didn't even blink. "Something wrong today, Mori? You aren't acting like you usually do. Here your girlfriend's crying and you won't even look at her.

 _What? I'm crying?_ I thought as I raised my hand to cheek and to my surprise, I felt tears sliding into my fingertips. Mori glanced at me and for a brief moment some other emotion flickered in his eyes but it was soon gone and I thought that I'd only imagined it as I gazed at Mori who only moved to cross his arms, making him more intimidating.

Yoichi watched this exchange with a smirk creeping onto his lips. "Did you guys have a fight?" He asked. "Did you break up?" Nobody said a word. Yoichi smiled and said, "Well if that's the case, then I'm not going to hold back anymore." As he said this, he took one giant step towards me and yanked me off the chair, pulling me towards himself by my collar.

Before I slammed into him, a strong arm snaked around my waist, jerking me back out of Yoichi's grasp. My back slammed into something soft, tall, and solid; I knew instantly that it was Takashi. "... Don't touch her, she's mine." Mori said in a low voice with a hint of a threat as he wrapped his other arm over my shoulder.

"She's only yours for now," Yoichi replied in a similar voice as his eyes narrowed.

"... Why?..." Mori asked.

Yoichi smiled his lazy smile and answered, "Because I love Reiko and I'm going to do everything in my power to make her fall in love with me. Mark my words, soon she'll be mine!" Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Yoichi casually walked passed us and I stiffened in fear. He chuckled when he saw me tense and said, "See you later, Reiko-chan. I had fun today!" Then he left.

Mori released me and I sank to the floor, stunned by what just happened. "Takashi," I murmured in a shaking voice as I glance up at him. Mori looked coolly down at me and my heart trembled. "A-are you mad at me?"

"Yes," Mori replied evenly in a cold voice before turning around and leaving.

As I listened to the front door slam shut behind him, tears began flowing freely down my cheeks and I started crying. _How did this happen?!_


	23. Making Up

**Hello dear readers, I have the next chapter for you! I hope you like it. But first I want to thank everyone who has followed, favorited, and, or reviewed my story; you guys are the best!**

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I sighed as I straightened my dress, Mori had ignored me when we entered the club so now I was feeling depressed. _Will he keep ignoring me so that I'll never have a chance to apologize and explain what happened last week._ Yes, last week. It's been over a week and Mori still refuses to talk to me. He doesn't pick up the phone when I call him and he won't respond when I text him so I've been feeling very depressed for the past week. On the flip side my arm has healed enough so that it doesn't have to sit in a sling anymore though it still is bandaged.

I stepped back to admire my costume; a dark purple maid outfit. The collar was on the low side but it still covered everything going straight across. The sleeves were spaghetti straps with triangular pieces of cloth, a purple piece with a black piece sticking out underneath it, hanging loosely over my upper arm. Over the chest was a piece of loose gathered white cloth with black lace covering the seam where it attached to the fitted bodice. The bodice had three black buckles down the front with a giant black sash tied around the waist and sitting on top of the skirt. The skirt consisted of three ruffled layers, the bottom one reaching mid-thigh, the top and bottom layers were purple and the middle one was black. I had black over-the-knee socks, purple ankle boots with heels, purple finger-less gloves that were padded to look like cat paws, a cat tail protruding from the skirt, and purple cat ears on my head.

Yes, I was dressed as a cat. The theme of today's club activity is animal cafe, all our costumes are based off an animal. Aika is supposed to be a panda; she has black and white panda ears, the top of her dress is white with black ruffled sleeves and big black buttons down the front. There was a black velvet belt sitting on top of the white skirt that had a black layer sticking out underneath it. She had black padded panda gloves, a small circular panda tail, white socks, and black boots.

Sotaru is a puppy; he has a light brown dark brown spotted pair of overalls, the pants part being short and puffed. He had brown boots and mid-length gloves that matched the overalls, spotted floppy puppy ears, and a tail.

Chizura is a cheetah, she has a cheetah print dress that's form fitting to the hips where there's a black belt with the skirt being ruffled and reaching two inches above her knees. She has black tights, cheetah print calf-high boots, a tail, ears, and finger-less gloves.

Yoite is a tiger; he has a ripped orange sleeveless shirt with a black shirt underneath it. He was wearing orange cargo pants, black combat boots, and tiger stripped ears, a tail, and finger-less gloves.

Hikaru and Kaoru are dressed as foxes; Hikaru's an orange fox and Kaoru's a red fox. They have fuzzy V-neck sleeveless shirts, cargo pants with chains hanging from them, a tan belt, and cargo boots. They each had a pair of fox ears, finger-less paw gloves, and a fox tail.

1Haruhi is dressed as a fawn; she has a light brown pair of overalls like Sotaru but with white speckles on the shorts and a light brown shirt underneath it. She had a pair of deer ears, a tail, dark brown boots, and light brown gloves. She also had freckles peppered across her face, courtesy of the twins.

Kyoya is a penguin; he's just wearing a tuxedo. (Everybody was to scared to suggest something with animal ears.)

Tamaki's the king of the jungle, a lion; he has a yellow velvet sleeveless turtle-neck shirt, tan cargo pants, a red cape, and yellow combat boots. Tamaki also has a tail, finger-less paw gloves, and lion ears; his mane is his floppy blonde hair.

Tadashi is a polar bear; he has a soft white turtle-neck and belt, black cargo pants, and white combat boots. He also has finger-less paw gloves, a circular bear tail, and fuzzy bear ears.

Hunny is a bunny; he had a light brown short sleeve shirt, a black sleeveless vest, and light brown cargo pants. He also had black loafers, a bunny tail, finger-less paw gloves, and bunny ears.

Lastly, Mori is a panther; he has a black long sleeve turtle-neck shirt, black cargo pants, and combat boots. He also had black finger-less gloves, a tail, and panther ears. _He looks really cool in it,_ I thought with a slight blush as I left the dressing room.

I didn't have time to dwell on this because by the time I left the dressing room the host club was in full swing. I started scurrying from table to table, chatting with a few customers here and there as I brought refills to the different sections. "Rei-chan! I need more cake!" Hunny called.

"Coming!" I said, as I quickly hurried over to him and Mori. "Carrot cake, right?" I asked with a smile.

"Yes!" Hunny said happily as he bit into his piece.

"... Do you need anything, Takashi?" I asked hesitantly.

"... No," Mori said coolly as he looked away.

I felt my heart pang as my face fell and I mumbled, "Oh, okay... Let me know if you need anything." Hunny gave me an encouraging smile as I walked away then I got some refills and headed over to Haruhi's table.

"That looked rough," Haruhi commented as I refilled her cup.

"No kidding," I said sitting down next to her since she only had one customer who was happily chatting with/ doting on Sotaru. "I just want to apologize and explain what happened but he just ignores me!... I just don't know what to do anymore." I mumbled the last part as a tear scurried down my cheek which I quickly wiped away.

"I think you should keep trying," Haruhi said softly. "I think your persistence and sincerity will show him how worried you are and how much you care for him; I bet that will soften his stubbornness."

"You think?" I asked hopefully.

"Na, you should just ditch Mori while you can."

"Aren't you supposed to be his friends?" I asked, glaring up at the twins.

They just shrugged and replied, "We're bored."

"Forget it!" I said as I got up and stormed away from the twins. In my anger I didn't pay attention to where I was going and I bumped into Kyoya. "Ow, sorry," I mumbled as I stepped back.

"No, it's alright," Kyoya replied with a smile that sent chills down my spine."By the way, Reiko, I've been meaning to tell you this but ever since your fight Mori's performance is down and our profits are decreasing. Not that I blame you or anything."

 _You are blaming me!_ I thought angrily as I hurried away.

"Oh Tamaki, you make such a dashing king of the jungle," A girl murmured as I passed.

"I may be the ruler of the jungle," Tamaki said seductively as he tilted the girl's chin. "But you are the ruler of my heart!"

"Oh Tamaki!"

 _Bleck!_

"Hey Reiko!" Chizura called as she pranced over to me. "Mori still be cold towards you?"

"Yeah," I mumbled.

"That's so mean. Why is he so mean to you? He had no right to be angry or mad at you!"

"But I'm the one in the wrong... I think."

"You're too nice, you should complain some more," Chizura said irritated. "Do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to march over to Mori and tell him exactly what I think!"

"Please don't!" I pleaded, grabbing her arm. Chizura shook me off and I desperately said, "Yoite, help!"

Yoite looked up and smirked; it took him four strides to reach Chizura and grab her arm. "Where are you going?"

"To Mori, now let go!" Chizura said, trying to break free from his grip.

"You're ditching me for Mori? I don't think so," Yoite said, pulling Chizura close.

Chizura scoffed, "Why can't I? You play with other girls all the time, why can't I play with other guys?"

"Because right now, I want only you, Chizura," Yoite said, tilting Chizura's chin up.

All the girls were watching and holding their breaths, their mood got to Chizura and she breathed, "Oh, Yoite," as she closed the distance and they kissed.

 _Gross, but effective,_ I thought with satisfaction as I watched the scene unfold. I sighed before heading over to Aika and Tadashi. Aika was happily bouncing on Tadashi's knee as they talked with the girls. I sat down on a nearby seat and waited for them to notice me or for a break in the conversation.

"Tadashi," a girl giggled as she leaned in towards my brother. "It's so cute that both you and Aika are bears."

With a suave smile, Tadashi replied, "That's because I'm Aika's brother bear."

 _Cheesy!_ I thought with a blank stare as I watched the girls giggle and sequel.

Then, leaning back with a grin, Tadashi added, "There's another reason why we're both bears."

"What is it?!" The girls asked excitedly.

"Do you really want to know?" He asked in a seductive whisper.

The girls nodded furiously and Tadashi nudged Aika who said, "It's because we give bear hugs!" When she said this, Aika jumped onto a girl's lap and hugged her while Tadashi put his arms around the two girls sitting next to them and gave them a squeeze.

"Pervert," I deadpanned.

Tadashi froze then looked at me. "Hey, Sis, what's up?"

"Your stupidity level," I replied.

Anger flared in Tadashi's eyes, then he smirked and said, "Have you made up with Mori yet or is he still shunning you?" I chewed my lip not saying anything.

Tadashi laughed and opened his mouth to make a cutting remark but before he could I asked, "Do you need anything to drink?"

"I want kids champagne!" Aika said as she ran over to me and gave me a hug.

"You heard the lady, two bottles of kids champagne!" Tadashi said authoritatively.

"As you wish, Jerk," I said politely with a mock curtsy.

I headed towards the back and as I opened the door Tadashi called, "Feel free to help yourself to a few glasses, you look tense!" I glared at him before slipping into the back.

 _We keep the sparkling juice, A.K.A kids champagne, in this cabinet, right?_ I thought as I pulled out a bottle. I glanced at the bottle and it looked like the real thing so I pulled out two more bottles. _Tadashi did say to have some so I will,_ I thought as I pulled out a glass, popped the cork, and poured myself a glass. I quickly gulped it down then paused. _This tastes a little weird;_ I thought but it also made me feel warm inside and I liked the odd taste so I shrugged and poured myself another glass, then another, and another.

I don't know how much time had passed but when I was just over half way through the bottle, the door opened and Sotaru pocked in his head ans said, "Hey Reiko, what's taking you so long?"

"Oops, I forgot why I came back here in the first place," I said standing up. When I did the world spun and I felt nauseous so I quickly sank back down into the chair.

"Are you okay?" Sotaru asked.

"I don't feel so good," I mumbled.

"Tadashi! Reiko doesn't look so good!" Sotaru called from the doorway. In a minute, both Tamaki and Tadashi entered the back and hurriedly walked over to me.

"Are you alright?" Tamaki asked.

"No, I feel nauseous and my head hurts," I whimpered.

"Reiko, did you drink this?" Tadashi asked slowly, holding the half empty bottle.

"Yeah, why?"

"This isn't sparkling juice, it's champagne! Didn't you look at the label?"

"No, and although it tasted weird it was still good so I didn't bother to check it," I mumbled.

With a sigh, Tadashi said, "Well judging from the amount you drank in such a short period and how you're acting, I'd say you're a bit drunk." I moaned when he said this and buried my face in my arms. "We can't keep the customers waiting but we also can't leave Reiko alone," Tadashi mused. "Who should watch her?"

"Oh, I know the perfect person for this job! Wait just a moment and I'll go get him!" As he said this, Tamaki dashed out of the room. When he returned, Mori was with him. Tamaki quickly explained the situation and before I fully realized what was happening Mori and I were the only two in the room.

Without a word, Mori sat down in the seat opposite me and sighed. We sat in awkward silence for a number of minutes before I plucked up my courage and said, "Mori, I'm sorry for-"

"Don't," Mori said interrupting me.

"Why are you so mad at me?!" I exploded as I sat up suddenly. The world spun around me but I continued, "I've tried to apologize countless times but you keep ignoring me! I don't even know what I did wrong exactly!"

Eyes snapping, Mori replied, "You let Yoichi have his way with you! You didn't try to stop him so you were basically cheating."

"I _let_ him have his way!?" I cried outraged, jumping out of my seat. "Takashi, he's a boy who's three inches taller than me, he has bulging muscles, he's three years older than me, and more importantly he has both his arms!" By now tears were streaming down my cheeks, my vision was growing hazy, and my insides were screaming at me to stop but I kept going, "I wasn't cheating on you, Yoichi completely forced himself on me! I'll admit I was wrong for letting my guard down but in the end, no matter how hard I struggled, there was nothing I could do to stop him-"

I swayed as I finished my sentence and my consciousness was plunged into blackness. "-Ko... Reiko." I awoke to the sound of my name being softly called by Mori. I opened my eyes to find myself staring straight into Takashi's eyes. I gave a small gasp and my cheeks heated up, I tried to sit up and back away but Mori tightened his grip around my upper torso and legs. "Don't move," Mori whispered.

I stopped struggling because by now I had realized that I was cradled in Mori's arms, my head resting against his chest and his chin sitting on my head. "I'm sorry," Mori whispered. "I shouldn't have shunned you. I should have listened to your explanation... I guess I was jealous... I'm sorry."

I felt a single hot tear on my cheek and my own eyes started to water. "No, I'm sorry Mori! I should have been more careful and more considerate of your feelings. It's all my fault that this happ-"

Takashi lifted my chin and pressed his lips into mine, stopping me from accusing myself. I wrapped my good arm around Mori's neck and kissed him back. I felt Mori open his mouth and I followed suit.

When we parted, Takashi wiped away the few tears that remained on my cheek and said, "We're both to blame."

Mori smiled gently down at me and I smiled back. "Does this mean we've made up?" I asked. Mori nodded and I smiled.

Then he started stroking my hair and he whispered, "Now you need to rest." I nodded before snuggling tightly against Mori's chest and falling asleep.


	24. A Surprise Date

**Hi readers, I've got the next chapter for you! I hope you like, I had a hard time writing it so I'm not sure how it turned out so I hope you enjoy it.**

 **Anyways, I want to thank everyone who followed, favorited, and or reviewed my story; you guys are the best!**

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"Reiko, why are you smiling?" I looked up from my spot on my bedroom's window seat which was drowning in pillows to see Aika standing in front of me.

"Something good just happened in my book," I lied with a smile.

"Like what?" Aika asked.

"Oh, something only adults would understand."

"Like what?"

I smiled, unwilling to let the cute stubbornness of my little sister dampen my mood; besides, she _was_ cute. "Why don't you go ask Yoite or Chizura to make you a snack?"

"Okay!" She said as she ran out of the room, calling for the twins.

I sighed happily to myself as I settled down to finish reading my book. The reason I'm so happy is because Mori and I have made up, all our misunderstandings are resolved. My cheeks colored slightly at the memory of being drunk but I laughed shyly to myself and thought, _whatever it takes to get back together, right?_

Ding, dong! I looked up from my book when I heard the doorbell ring. I strained my ears to listen to the conversation but all I could here were my younger siblings clamoring to the guest. I shrugged in indifference and returned to my book.

During the middle of a very enthralling chapter, I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I hadn't heard anyone enter and I looked and jumped when I saw it was Mori standing before me. My cheeks colored and I brought my book to my chest; I was wearing a baggy T-shirt and sweats, not something I'd want my boyfriend to see me in. "Hi, Mori," I said shyly from behind my book.

Takashi smiled gently down at me, ruffled my hair, cupped my face, and said, "Get ready, Reiko,we're going on a date."

"What! Now?"

"Yes."

"But I need to change first!" I said hurriedly, scurrying over to my closet.

"You don't have to... You look fine in that."

"No!" I said decisively. "Now get out!" I said as I pushed him out of the room. I quickly threw on the dress Mori had bought me and flew down the steps to where Mori was waiting. He smiled when he saw me, obviously pleased with my quick change and outfit. When he offered me his arm I graciously accepted and then he led me out the door and to his car. "Where are we going? You must have some place in mind if you showed up out of the blue like this," I asked once we were in the car.

"... It's a secret." Takashi said with a slight grin.

"Can you tell me how long it will take to get there?" I asked with eyes filled with anticipation.

"About ten minutes." I smiled and leaned my head against Mori's shoulder. He lifted his arms and wrapped it around my shoulders. In this way we passed the ten minutes it took to reach our destination. "Close your eyes," Mori was in a low voice as he placed his hands over my eyes.

"Okay," I said despite not really having a choice. With the help of Takashi's verbal directions, I stumbled out of the car. "May I look now?" I asked once I was safely out of the car.

For an answer, Mori simply removed his hands from my eyes. A giant smile broke out across my face when I saw we were standing in front of an old book store. "Oh my gosh! Can we go in now? How long can we stay? Thank you so much!" I rambled, my eyes dancing excitedly as I threw my arms around Mori's neck and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek; then I grabbed his hand and dragged him into the store.

"So many books that I've never read before!" I said happily as I skimmed over the titles with my finger. "Which one should I read?"

I felt a tap on my shoulder and I paused my search to see Mori holding a book. He handed me the book and said, "Have you read this book?... It's another one of my favorites."

"No, I haven't, thanks!" I said taking the book from him. I skim read the intro, it looked interesting so I flipped to the first chapter. When I started reading I only intended on reading the first page but it was soooooo gooooood. Pretty soon I was completely absorbed by the book then, when I was half-way through chapter one, I felt Mori's strong arms wrap tenderly around my waist as he pulled me tightly against his chest. My cheeks turned red and I looked up at Takashi and asked quietly, "Is it okay if I keep reading?" Mori gave me a small smile and nodded. "Thanks," I said flashing Mori a huge smile as I returned to my book.

I started reading again and then my cheeks turned dark pink as I felt Mori rest his chin on my head and then kiss it. _Cheater,_ I thought as I tried to focus on my book.

"Reiko-chan! Fancy meeting you here." I stiffened when I heard this all to familiar voice; Yoichi. I looked up to see him leaning against the bookcase with a playful grin on his face. "Ah, I see you two have made up, good for you!"

I glanced up at Takashi who was glaring icily at Yoichi, then I looked back at Yoichi and cautiously said, "That's right. We've made up and now we're closer than ever so please leave us alone."

Yoichi laughed then said, "Aw, Rieko-chan, you're so cute when you're being polite!"

"She said leave us alone," Mori said threateningly as he tightened his grip around my waist.

"Sorry, but I love Reiko so I'm not leaving." Yoichi responded, eyes narrowed a bit as his lips danced in a smirk.

My eyes widened in shock at his confession then narrowed in anger, "Yoichi! I'm flattered that you like me but I'm sorry, I love Takashi and nothing you can do will change that. Will you please just stop now?!"

"I'm sorry, Reiko-chan, but love has no reason," he responded with a grin.

"Can't you get it through your head that I, Don't, Like, You! The fact that Mori and I could fight then make up proves that you don't have a chance!"

Yoichi smirked and said in a low voice, "Reiko-chan, aren't you forgetting something?" His voice turned dark and he said, "I said that I'll do _anything_ it takes to make you mine and I mean it. I flinched at Yoichi's threat, my body trembling unwillingly, I attempted to take a step back but Mori was there so I couldn't.

"... Leave..." This time it was Yoichi's turn to freeze, he froze and looked hesitant, then his goofy grin returned and he shrugged off Mori's glare and said,

"If you insist. See you later, Reiko-chan!" I let out a sigh and let my muscles relax when he left.

I blushed when I realized I was clutching Mori's shirt and I slowly released it. I looked up at Takashi who still had a hard look in his eyes. Tentatively, I tapped Mori on the shoulder and he looked down at me, his eyes still hard. I smiled sweet;y at him, rose onto my tiptoes and, pulling on his shirt collar, I kissed him on the lips. Mori looked startled when I pulled away, I grinned up at him and said, "Come on, we're on a date! Don't make such scary faces. Let's go pay for this book and then get something small to eat."

Takashi relaxed and he smiled down at me, then he grabbed my hand and paid for the book, "A gift," he said. After this we wandered down the street till we reached a small cafe where we ordered a parfait with two spoons and two coffees. Hand-in-hand, we walked through the historical area of downtown looking at the shops and enjoying each others company.

"Hey Mori," I said looking up at him after stuffing a spoonful of parfait into my mouth. "Can you please tell me what the next host club event will be? It's not that I don't like surprises it's just that I want to know even more."

Mori looked down at me and smiled in amusement. He swiped his thumb across my lips and licked the frosting off it, I blushed and he said with a smile, "No... You'll have to wait and see."

"I know," I said with a contented sigh. I gave him a playful smile. "Takashi, do you-"

Mori stopped suddenly and pulled me behind his back. I stumbled a bit but once I'd regained my balance I peeked around Mori's back to see three huge thugs in front of us, and when I say huge I mean huge. Two of them were taller than Mori and all three of them were heavier set and completely ripped.

"Hey punk," the tallest one drawled slowly. "Why don't you hand over your wallet and your pretty little girlfriend and nobody gets hurt."

My blood ran cold and my fingers started to shake. "Reiko... Run.  
I looked up suddenly when Mori said this, I wanted to run but I didn't want to leave Takashi either. "But-"

"Reiko, run." Mori's voice was so low and imposing that I flinched. When the thugs heard Mori tell me to run they advanced. One of them lunged at me, his hand an inch from my throat, when Mori grabbed him and threw him to the ground. "Run!"

After this I didn't need to be told twice. I stumbled back a few steps before bursting into a run. I ran three blocks and took a left down an alley and hid behind a dumpster to catch my breath. Panting, I listened for footsteps. I didn't hear anything so I relaxed and straightened up. Cautiously, I headed towards the end of the alley.

Crik! I froze then lunged forward but a large strong hand wrapped around my waist; I tried to scream but he clamped his other hand over my mouth. I was jerked back until I was slammed into the thug with enough force to knock the breath out of me. My knees turned to jelly as I gasped for breath then they gave out. I turned into a pitiful dead-weight in my captor's arm and tears spilled down my face as I slummed back against him.

"Whoa!" A cheerful and familiar voice said as he lowered us down the ground where he set me on his lap and cuddled me in his arm.

"Yoichi?" I asked hesitantly as I blinked a few times and my gaze refocused as oxygen spewed into my lungs.

"Yo, Princess," Yoichi said with a grin as he caressed my cheek. It took me a few moments to realize what was happening and the the second I did my cheeks flared red and my eyes narrowed in anger. "Yoichi! Don't ever sneak up on me again or I'll kill you!"

Yoichi chuckled and ran his thumb over my lips that were turned down in a scowl. "You're pretty even when you're angry."

"Don't touch me!" I hissed, swatting his hand away and quickly standing up.

"As you wish!" Yoichi said with a boyish grin.

I felt insulted and I blushed. Then I turned on my heel and with a toss of my hair I said, "I'm sorry but I have to go find Takashi." I had only taken a few steps towards the alley's exit when I felt Yoichi grab me tightly by the forearm. "Let me go, I have to go find Mori!" I demanded, trying to yank free of his grasp.

Yoichi smirked down at me and said, "Sorry, but Mori is hanging out with a few friends of mine right now."

"You had those thugs attack us?!" I asked in disbelief as I tried to back away.

Yoich laughed and with a flick of his wrist, he pulled me into his embrace. I pushed against his chest but it was useless, his left arm was wrapped around my waist like a python and his hand gripped my hip; his other hand held the base of my skull in a pincer grip.

"Why'd you have those guys attack us!?" I yelled, pounding on his chest relentlessly as my eyes watered.

Yoichi grinned happily as he tilted my head up and looked me straight in the eyes. My heart pounded in my ears as he said, "Why? I did it so my Little Princess and I could go on a date together."

"I would nev-" Yoichi bent his head down and slammed his lips into mine, forcefully kissing me. "Stop!" I gasped as tears began sliding out of the corners of my eyes and I covered my mouth with my hand.

"... No," Yoichi said in a low voice. "I won't stop, I want more... I'm going to make you fall in love with me and... I'm going to make you mine."

"No!" I protested.

Yoichi gave me a sad grin, his eyes full of conflicted feelings as he pushed me to the ground. "I'm sorry," he whispered as he pinned my wrists above my head and tenderly stroked my cheek, his face two inches from mine. "You don't deserve this and I know this will hurt you but if this will get you to stay by my side and love me then I'm willing to do anything."

"Please, stop!-" I started to beg but Yoichi cut me off by slamming his lips into mine, stroking my lips with his tongue; my body shook with sobs at the feeling of his touch.

A minute later Yoichi pulled back and I trembled as tears unwillingly flew from my eyes as I tried not to cry. "Don't cry," Yoichi said gently, kissing my tear stained cheeks. Then he paused and whispered, "You're not the type of girl that lets a guy touch you and Mori isn't the type of guy that will touch a girl so I'll be the first and make you mine."

My eyes flew wide and I opened my mouth to say something but Yoichi kissed me again. I twitched when I felt his hand squeeze my stomach, I gasped when he kissed my collarbone, and I squirmed as he ran his hand up and down my back. Yoichi kissed down my neck, then he stopped and panted, "I think... I think I want more"

"No, please don't, Yoichi!" I said desperately, raising my head to look him in the eyes pleadingly.

"I won't do it _if_ you agree to be my girlfriend." My heart froze, my head spun, and my stomach was in knots. "Choose," Yoichi as he brought his hand up and stroked my cheek. "Your dignity or Mori?"

My gaze wavered for a moment and Yoichi looked hopeful but then I hardened my gaze, took a deep breath, and said, "I choose Takashi and the second I'm free I'm going to the police. I'll make sure that every newspaper knows that the heir to the Mizushima Company is a perverted harasser! I'll have you jailed!"

"You wouldn't!" Yoichi shouted. He looked shocked and unnerved, "If you did that the partnership will be over! The one you got kidnapped and shot to save! And think about my company's reputation! If you did that-"

"No!" I shouted interrupting him. "You think about your company's reputation! My father, the Morinozukas, and the Haninozukas would agree that making this incident public is more important than the partnership. You decide whether the consequences are worth it."

Yoichi was silent, he looked mad and conflicted. After five minutes he let me go and he stood up. He watched me as I scrambled to my feet and said, "You're more gutsy than I gave you credit for, Little Princess. You better leave now before I change my mind."

I glared at Yoichi, stuck my tongue out at him, and ran. I ran a block before spotting Mori bloodied and bruised, he looked desperate as he glanced around desperately. "Mori!" I yelled as I ran to him and started crying.

"Reiko, what happened?" Mori asked as he picked me up. I burst into a fresh round of tears and I told him everything.

"I was petrified! Please hold me tight and promise that you'll never let me go." I whispered the last part.

Mori held me tight, emotions boiling inside him but he suppressed them and lifted my chin. Mori looked me in the eye and said, "I promise I'll never let you go again." Then he leaned in and gave me a french kiss.

When we pulled apart I gave him a teary eyed smile and whispered, "thank you," before failing asleep in his arms.


	25. A Momentary Breather

**Hey readers, thanks for coming to read my next chapter, your support means a lot!**

 **I want to thank everyone who followed, favorited, and, or reviewed my story since last time; thanks!**

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"Thank you for coming Princesses, please come again!" I heaved a sigh of relief as we closed the doors to the host club after finishing today's event the theme of which had been ninjas and samurai. Mori, Kyoya, Tamaki, Yoite, Chizura, Haruhi, and Sotaru were samurai while Tadashi, Hikaru, Kaoru, Hunny, Aika, and I were ninjas.

I liked my costume this week, it consisted of a black skin-tight robe-like shirt that reached mid-thigh with a burnt orange belt around the waist. Under this was a long-sleeve shirt with sleeves that had one inch wide stripes with alternating burnt orange stripes and black netting. Then the leggings were black with netting on the left leg from above mid-thigh to the knee while the right leg had netting from just above the knee down till it disappeared inside black calf-high boots. Lastly, my hair was down with and held back with a burn orange headband.

"What a busy day!" I moaned as I sunk down into a chair and laid my head on the table.

"At least you're not drunk this time," the Hitachiins teased..

"I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

"Nope!" The Hitachiin twins said with a grin as they gave me a double noogie.

"Hey Rei-chan! Have some cake, that will make you feel better!" Hunny suggested happily.

"Thanks," I said with a smile as Hunny handed me a piece of cake.

"What Reiko really wants is for Mori to kiss her," Chizura said, grinning slyly.

"No, she wants Mori to play doctor with her to make her feel better," Yoite contradicted with a sly smile.

"Oh my! Reiko's a pervert!" Hikaru exclaimed, feigning shock.

"Poor Mori,"Kaoru sniffed with fake tears. "He's dating a pervert."

"I'm not a pervert!" I yelled with my ears turning red. "You're the perverts! Stop coming up with perverted delusions and attributing your twisted fantasies to me!"

All four twins laughed and I turned beat red. "Stop it!" Tamaki said seriously, coming up behind me. He put his right hand on my shoulder and the light around him turned pink as he said, "Fools! Don't make fun of Reiko! She's experiencing the wonderful magic of being in love! Seeing him makes her heart flutter, talking to hims makes her feel light, being in the same room as him is ecstasy for a young maiden in love! You fools cannot begin to understand the innocent, complex emotion of love."

Tamaki pointed an accusing finger at the twins but this just sent them into another fit of laughter. "You guys shouldn't laugh, love is sweeter than cake!" Hunny said as he took a bite of cake.

"Hunny, if that's true does that mean you are going to eat Mori and Rieko?" Chizura asked.

"Maybe!" He responded with a smile.

"What?!" I exclaimed as the four knuckle-heads rolled on the floor laughing.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Kyoya said exasperated sigh as he watched the twins. "Love just turns people into fools."

"Some people are simply born fools," Haruhi commented as she sat down and put her feet up.

"Who are you referring to: Tamaki, your father, or the twins?" Kyoya asked.

"All of them," Haruhi responded calmly, as she accepted a piece of cake from Hunny.

"But Tamaki does have a bit of a point, love is a beautiful thing," Tadashi said.

"Though his imagination is way out of proportion," Haruhi said.

"Agreed," Tadashi confirmed. "Though Tamaki forgets the most important thing involved in love."

"And what would that be?" Haruhi asked.

"Bearing children of course!" Tadashi said exuberantly.

"I agree," Kyoya said with a nod. "Providing a family with an heir is probably the most important and beneficial result of love."

"That's not exactly what I meant," Tadashi said sweat-dropping.

"Reiko! Reiko! Reiko!" Aika shouted happily, running to me and throwing her her upper body onto my lap. "When will you have Mori and babies? Can it be soon? I want to be an aunt now!"

Everyone else older than Sotaru burst out laughing. My cheeks and ears reddened at the suggestion and the laughter. Poor Aika looked around bewildered, not understanding what she head implied.

Sotaru, also oblivious to the reason why everyone was laughing, looked at me and said, "Yeah, you and Mori should hurry up and have kids! I want to be called Uncle Sotaru plus if you have kids you won't boss us around anymore."

By now the twins were half-dead from laughing and I must have looked like a tomato. "Ha, ha!" Hikaru laughed. "Sotaru and Aika want you and Mori to make babies, are you going to oblige?"

"No! They only said that because they don't know how babies are made," I answered embarrassed.

"How are babies made?" Sotaru asked, turning to me with a quizzical look.

I thought as I'd burst from embarrassment as Kaoru laughed and said, "Tell him, Reiko! Tell him how babies are made!"

Sotaru looked at me eagerly with his brown puppy dog eyes. "Do you make babies by holding hands?" He asked eagerly.

"No!" I nearly shouted, embarrassed by the spurts of laughter around me.

"Do you do it by kissing?"

"No!"

"By kissing with your tongue?"

"No!"

"How?"

Everyone stared at me grinning; I was flustered and embarrassed but I managed to say, "Dad will tell you in four years."

"Why can't you tell me now?" He asked.

"Because it's the parent's job to tell their kid, not their sister, okay?"

"Okay," Sotaru said with a sigh. Everyone laughed or snickered as our exchange ended.

I sighed in resignation and looked at Takashi who had silently watched this whole ordeal. His cheeks were slightly pink and he had a gentle smile on his face as he listened to our chatter. My eyes met his and I smiled tenderly at him and gave a small happy laugh, Mori chuckled and gazed tenderly back at me.

Suddenly, the room feel quiet; startled, Mori and I looked around to see that everyone but the two youngest were staring at us and blushing. "That's... That's so beautiful!" Tamaki cried, blowing into a handkerchief.

"Bleh! So pure and innocent!" Yoite and Chizura said, fake gagging.

"Too bright! Your innocent heartfelt love is too bright!" the Hitachiin twins said backing away and shielding their eyes.

"I don't get it," Aika said confused. "What just happened?"

I laughed and kissed her on the cheek, "they're just being silly."

"Oh," Aika said before giggling and running over to Tadashi.

After this the topic changed as everyone got up and and started tidying up the club room. I was finishing tidying up the pillows when I felt a hand rest in my shoulder. I looked up to see Mori standing there. Gently, he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the door. "... Come with me."

Saying nothing, I let Takashi lead me into the empty hallway; I blushed a little, being alone with Mori who looked nothing short of hot in his traditional Japanese garb which, from the waist up, hung loosely from his shoulders, exposing his bare muscular chest, made my insides flutter.

Mori smiled softly at me before picking e up by my waist and kissing me tenderly. Setting me down, he cupped my face gently and said, "There's going to be a party to celebrate the partnership between the H. & M. Corporation and the Mizushima Company in two weeks... The invitations are being sent out today, everyone from the host club is invited... Your father will probably tell you about it tonight but..."

"But?" I coaxed quietly as I gazed fondly up at Mori.

"... I wanted to tell you myself so that I could invite you to come as my date."

I blinked a few times, then my cheeks turned rosy as I smiled up at him and whispered, "I wouldn't go as anything else!" I rose up to my tiptoes and pecked Takashi on the lips. Then I laid my head against his bare chest and wrapped my arms around his upper back.

Mori wrapped his arms around my upped and lowed back, pulling me tight against his chest as he kissed me on the top of my head. I smiled contentedly and snuggled against Mor'is chest, inhaling his scent. "I love you!" I murmured.

"Aw! Aren't you two so cute together! Is this the so called forbidden love between ninja and samurai?" We froze, my hands started shaking unwillingly and Mori squeezed me comfortingly. Then, not moving his hands, he glared at the speaker and said, "What do you want, Yoichi?"

I refused to look at him, I stayed glued to Mori but I heard Yoichi laugh and say, "I came to tell Reiko-chan that I'm picking her up at five sharp for the party."

"I'm not going with you, Jerk! I don't even want to look at you after what you did to me last time," I hissed angrily, still clinging to Mori

I heard Yoichi laugh. "Come on, Little Princess, are you still mad at me? It's already been two weeks, can't you forgive me?"

"No." I flinched, Mori's voice was low, dangerous, and threatening.

"Let Reiko-chan speak for herself," Yoichi said slightly more cheerful than Mori but his voice still contained all the same emotions. I stayed quiet and about twenty seconds later Takashi said, "Reiko's my girlfriend, I can speak for her... She's coming with me." Swiftly, Mori swept me off the ground and cradled me against his chest protectively.

"Is that so?" yoichi asked, eyes narrowed. "I love Reiko and I'm still willing to do whatever it takes to make her mine."

Mori glared daggers at Yoichi, then he held me with one arm, cupped my face and French kissed me right in front of Yoichi. I blushed but kissed Takashi back without hesitation, wrapping my arms around his neck. When we pulled back I smiled up at Mori and stroked his cheek tenderly with my hand.

Mori smiled softly down at me, then he glanced at Yoichi and said, "I'm like you. I'll do whatever it takes to keep Reiko safe from you, and..." He paused and walked over to Yoichi, grabbed him by the collar, bringing Yoichi's face centimeters from hi and said coolly, "If you ever touch Reiko again, I'll kill you."

Takashi let go of Yoichi who stumbled backwards. Mori pushed passed him and slipped back into the club room, locking the door behind him. Gently, Mori set me down and patted me on the head. I grabbed his hand and laid my cheek in it. Then I looked up at Mori and smiled, my eyes shinning brightly, "Thank you. I love you, Takashi."


	26. Whirlwind of Events

**Hey people, thank you for coming to read this next chapter! A lot of stuff happens in this chapter and it's pretty long but I hope you like it.**

 **I want to thank everyone who followed, favorited, and, or reviewed my story; you guys rock and keep doing what you do! Anyways, here's the next chapter, enjoy!**

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"Reiko! You boyfriend's waiting for you!" Chizura called from the bottom of the stairs.

"Coming!" I called, straightening my dress and glancing one more time at the mirror. My dress was made of silver silk with turquoise accents. The dress was sleeveless with triangular neckline, with the top point resting an inch and a half below my neck with two thin strips of ribbon extending from the point that were tied behind my neck. Next, the dress was form fitting to the waist where it was gathered on the right with tiny turquoise and cream flowers, sprinkled with silver gems, resting in the middle of a turquoise bow with ribbon extending down past the knee. The skirt was full of soft pleats, flowing softly to the floor where the bottom of the skirt was sprinkled with turquoise gems and the skirt flared out when I twirled.

The back was open to the waist and I had a translucent scarf-like turquoise wrap that hung loosely behind my back and folded over my elbows. My hair was down with the top layer pulled back in a bun on the left side of my head with turquoise pins keeping it in place.

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ears, happy with my appearance then I slipped on open-toed turquoise two-inch heels before running out of the room I flew down the steps and flashed a bright smile when I saw Takashi. He looked handsome with his black suit and emerald green shirt that was underneath it. "You look beautiful," Mori said with a gentle smile.

I blushed and kissed him on the cheek, "And you look handsome."

"Shall we go?" Mori asked, offering me his arm.

"I slipped my arm through his and said, "Yes!"

"We'll be about forty-five minutes behind you," Tadashi called from the top of the stairs where he was fumbling with his tie.

"Okay!" I called as I shut the front door.

After a twenty minute drive we arrived pulled up to the Mizushima Mansion mansion where the party was being held. "Yoichi will be here," I said in a low voice. "He's probably planning something."

"I won't let you out of my sight all night... He won't be able to do anything and, if he does," Mori said, pausing as he gently cupped my face and kissed me. Then he finished as he pulled back, "I'll protect you."

"Thanks," I blushed. Arm-in-arm Takashi and I entered the mansion. Mr. Morinozuka, Mr. Haninozuka, Mr. Mizushima, my father, and a few other top executives were in the foyer greeting guests as they arrived. "Welcome!" They greeted as we walked in.

"Reiko!" Mr. Mizushima said when he saw me. "I'm so glad you could make it! Go ahead and enjoy the party. If it weren't for you this never would have happened."

The other men nodded and I blushed. "Thanks, I will." I said as Mori led me to the ballroom.

Long buffets over-flowing with food lined one side of the rectangular room. On one end of the room tables and chairs were stationed to allow people to sit, chat, or eat and on the other end of the room there was an open table for people to gather and talk.

"Rei-chan! Takashi!" Hunny called running over to us. He gave us a hug then said, "Come on, the food is great! The black forest cake is the best! Come and try a piece!" He pulled us over to the buffet and offered us a piece of cake.

Mori accepted but I smiled and shook my head, "Thanks, but I will have a piece later, I'm not hungry right now."

"Okay!" Hunny said, happily digging into the piece he had offered me.

I grabbed a glass of water for myself and then we made our way over to the seats. Slowly, our friends started to arrive; Tamaki came first and he giggled like an idiot while exclaiming like a moron about how cute a couple Mori and I make. The twins and Haruhi showed up next; Haruhi was dressed like a guy because a lot of families with children that attend Ouran were here. Next was Kyoya and finally my family arrived.

"When can we start dancing?" Aika asked, pulling on the skirt of my dress.

"Once the hosts announce the start of the party," I answered as I patted her gently on the head.

"Speak of the devil, here they came now," Yoite said, glancing at the middle of the ballroom.

We all quietly listened to the short speech and applauded at it's end. Couples began filtering onto the dance floor, preparing for the first dance of the night. My siblings who had just finished stuffing themselves eagerly eyed the dance floor.

"Do you know what kind of dance this will be?" Chizura asked.

"A Viennese waltz, I believe," Tadashi said.

"Aw, we don't know that one," Sotaru and Aika said with disappointment in their voices as they hung their heads. "It's okay," I said. "You two can dance how ever you want on the edge of the dance floor. As long as you don't get in anyone's way I'm sure nobody will mind."

"Okay!" They said happily as they ran away to find an empty spot.

"Let's go, Chizura," Yoite said, grabbing her hand and heading for the dance floor. Tadashi followed with his girlfriend who he had brought as his date.

I watched them longingly but I didn't say anything. Then I felt a gentle tug on my arm and I looked up to see Mori looking down at me with a small amused smile. "you want to dance, don't you?"

Yes!" I said eagerly. Takashi chuckled at me reaction and led me onto the dance floor. "Just so you know, the Viennese waltz is my weakest dance," I whispered as I put my right hand in his and rested my left hand on his upper arm.

"That's okay, I'll lead, you just follow," he whispered back as he place his right hand on my shoulder blade and pulled me close so that our lower bodies were touching.

I blushed shyly, then I squared my shoulders and prepared for the music. When the music started, we moved. Across the floor we glided, spinning at a dizzying speed around each other like a merry-go-round. I smiled in delight and laughed lightly as we danced; Takashi smiled softly at me and we kept on dancing.

"That was so much fun!" I panted as the four minute long song ended "Thank you, Takashi!"

"...You're welcome, Reiko," Mori whispered as he bent down and kissed me.

I flushed but still smiling I said, "Can we dance to the nex-"

"Reiko-chan!" I looked up in disgust to see Yoichi who had interrupted me. I hadn't seen him all night until now so I was secretly hoping that I'd be able to make it all night without seeing him but my hopes were shattered into a million pieces in one of the most unpleasant ways possible. "May I have the pleasure of the next dance, Little Princess?" He asked with a bow.

"No," I said flatly. "I'm dancing with Takashi."

"Hogging your prince all to yourself, Princess? Isn't that a little selfish?"

"How so?" I asked a little taken aback. Normally I'm always on the generous side so being called selfish stung.

Yoichi smiled playfully at me and said, "Look around, there appear to be many girls who wish to dance with Mori. Can you not let him go for even one dance? Also, some people will see it as rude that you refused to dance with me, the heir of the Mizushima Company. Some might even question the relationship between our two companies."

I hesitated, weighing the pros and cons; I looked up at Mori with a troubled face, I could tell by the look on his face that he was doing the same thing. "Well?" Yoichi asked, his signature playful grin. I gazed at Mori, asking for is permission with my eyes, Takashi sighed, we both knew that social obligations forced us to dace with other people.

When he nodded I turned to Yoichi and said, "Okay, but only one dance."

"That's all I ask for, Reiko-chan," Yoichi said happily.

"I'll see you when I'm done," I whispered as I pecked Mori on the lips.

Takashi's hand lingered on my cheek and he looked like he was about to say something but Yoichi grabbed my wrist and pulled me away saying, "Hurry! The next dance is starting!" I followed unwillingly; longingly I glanced at Mori who was being mobbed by girls. I watched him put on his host smile as he graciously accepted one of the girl's invitations to dance. "Hey," Yoichi smiled as he pulled me into the frame. "It's rude to be thinking of someone else when your dancing."

"Sorry," I blushed. The music started and I felt horribly uncomfortable with Yoichi's hand on my bare back, I also thought that we were closer than necessary for a plain old waltz. I sucked up my discomfort and managed to gracefully survive the waltz while showing the bare minimum politeness to Yoichi that I could muster.

"Thank you for the dance," I said with a slight curtsy to Yoichi, wanting to be relieved of his company immediately.

"My pleasure!" Yoichi said with a playful grin as he bowed. Then he grabbed my arm, "Come on, there's something I want you to see!"

"Wait!" I protested in a hushed voice. "You promised that I only had to dance with you once!"

Yoichi looked at me amused. "Did I say anything about dancing again? I said I wanted to show you something."

A little taken back, I quietly said, "Sorry, but I need to go find Mori."

"Oh, if that's all you need he's over there," Yoichi said nonchalantly. I followed his gaze and sure enough there was Mori surrounded by girls. He looked helpless, wanting to be with me and knowing that it would be rude to turn down every girls' invitation to dance. "Looks like he'll be there a while," Yoichi commented. Looks like you'll be free for a while so come with me!"

"Wait!" I whispered as he started pulling me off the dance floor. "I'll wait for Mori with Hunny."

"Sorry! I can't hear you! Let's go where it's quiet," Yoichi said, pulling me unrelentingly towards a door.

"Rei-chan! Do you want to try that cake now?" Hunny asked excitedly, running up to us.

My heart soared with joy when I saw him. "Ye-"

"Sorry, but Reiko's not hungry right now. She'll try some after she's rested for a bit. Now if you'll excuse us," Yoichi said, leading me away from Hunny.

"Wait!" I hissed, trying to yank my arm loose but his grip was too strong. "Hunny!..." I started but I trailed off as the door shut behind me.

"Come on!" Yoichi said with an excited smile. "I have a surprise that I can't wait for you to see! This way." He wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me close.

Frowning, I pushed him away and said, "Please don't touch me like that, I'm Takashi's girlfriend."

"As you wish, Little Princess," Yoichi said with a suave bow as he took my hand and kissed it.

I blushed from a mixture of anger and embarrassment. "Don't do that."

Yoichi just grinned, gripped my hand, and led me down the hall. Reluctantly I followed Yoichi, nodding and smiling politely as he gave me historical facts and tidbits about the house and the decorations that I really wasn't listening to.

When we finally entered a room I was only half-listening and completely oblivious to my surroundings. "Gah!" I exclaimed, snapping back to reality when Yoichi kissed me on the cheek, mixing his tongue into the kiss. Laughter erupted behind me and I looked over Yoichi's shoulder to see two young men in suits.

Still chuckling, Yoichi led me over to the boys and introduced us. "Reiko, this is my childhood friend, Koji, and this one is my goofball classmate from high school, Osamu."

"Nice to meet you," I said, shaking their hands.

"I see why she's refused to date you, Yoichi, she's way too pretty and nice for a guy like you." Osamu said with a laugh.

Koji looked more serious and asked, "Are you sure about this, Yoichi?"

"Yes," he answered with resolve.

Butterflies filed my stomach at this exchange and I looked around the room; it was a rectangular room with hardwood floors, cathedral ceilings, and windows lining one wall. It was sparsely furnished with a few tables and chairs sprinkled near me but on the opposite end of the room the floor was raised up two steps with an alter on it and a cross hanging on the wall behind it. There were two long wooden benches in front of this and a man dressed like a priest sitting on one of the benches. "Yoichi, where are we?... What's going on?"

"Yoichi smiled softly at me and gently took my hand, "This is a chapel my great- grandmother built," he said, leading me over to the man on the bench. "Reiko, this is Father Nobu, he's going to wed us."

I froze as my brain processed what had just been said, then my knees gave out.

"Whoa!" Yoichi said as he caught me and held me up.

"N-no!" I stuttered. "I won't marry you!"

"Um," the priest said hesitantly, "For the marriage to be valid both parties have to consent to it."

"Don't worry," Yoichi said with a smile. "Give her five minutes to calm down and she'll be ready." The priest looked nervous but he nodded and Yoichi led me over to a neighboring room. He sat me down in a chair then he got down on one knee and slipped a thin silver ring with three small crystals in it onto my finger. "Reiko, will you marry me?" He asked.

"No!" I whispered.

"Please!" Yoichi asked with puppy-dog eyes. "I have the papers all ready. All we have to do is say our vows and sign the papers! Plus you'll get two rings in one day! That would make any girl happy."

"I'm sorry," I said shaking me head. "But I don't want to get married right now."

"Liar," Yoichi said, narrowing his eyes and smirking. "Before I met you your dad told me that his eldest daughter was about to graduate and that she really didn't want to go to college, what she wanted was to get married and start a family. He was talking about you, right?"

I blushed and looked away. Crossing my arms, I said stubbornly, "That doesn't matter, I don't want to marry you! I love Mori. I won't ever consent to marrying you."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Yoichi said with a dark chuckle. "Look," he said, grabbing my hand and leading me over to a large mirror hanging on the wall. Before he could ask a single question, he flipped a switch and I could see through the mirror

What I saw sent my heart into my throat and made me feel sick. I wobbled and Yoichi snaked his arm around my waist, pulling me tightly against hims thereby supporting me in a way I very much despised. "A-Aika!" I gasped out, my voice wavering in disbelief. "Yoichi, what did you do?! Take me to Aika now! Please!" I begged, my eyes watering as I clutched his shirt desperately.

On the other side of the mirror was Aika who was sleeping or more likely knocked out, on a bed. Her lip was busted open and her face was bloody; Aika's poor pink dress was tattered and spotted with blood, her wrists and ankles were bound together and her limbs were covered in cuts and bruises.

As I held Yoichi's shirt distraught and anxious, Yoichi stroked my head in an attempt to calm me down. "It's okay, don't cry," he cooed, stroking my head. "I'll take you to her and have her treated by my personal doctor the second we get married."

I froze and looking up at Yoichi I asked, "What happens if I say no?"

"I'm glad that you asked," Yoichi said calmly with a smirk playing on his lips. "If you say no, I'm afraid what's left of the resistance against our companies partnership will attack. You and I will be knocked out and locked up in some room and tragically, Aika will be captured by them." My hands shook but Yoichi continued. "If you marry me, I'll contact the Mizushima task force to raid their base to stop the attack but if you don't I won't say anything and they'll attack... I'm sorry that I'm putting you through this but after last time I realized that you'd rather hurt yourself instead of somebody else. Now I'm afraid you're going to have to choose, Reiko, so what's it going to be?"

"You're really going to make me choose?" I asked in a subdued voice.

"Yes," he said, looking at me sympathetically but with with a firm voice. I bit my lip and stared at the ground. "I'm afraid you have to hurry, Little Princess," Yoichi whispered gently.

"I... I-I'll..." I croaked hoarsely. "I'll marry you!" I cried.

Yoichi's face lit up and he leaned down and kissed me tenderly. "Thank you!" He said before kissing me again. "Thank you, Reiko! You've just made me the happiest man on earth; I promise that in return I'll make you happy too!"

 _I don't think that's possible,_ I thought as I rested my weary head on Yoichi's shoulder while he held me tightly and I cried my eyes out.

It took me five minutes to calm down and when I did Yoichi excitedly said, "I'll have my doctor attend to your sister right now and the second we finish our wedding vows I'll have my men raid the rebels' base. Here," he said, happily giving me a pretty white veil, "Put this on, Koji will come back here to get you; I'm going to tell the priest we're ready."

I slumped down into the chair and rested my head in my hands. My whole body, including my heart, felt numb; I felt like crying but no tears would come.

"Reiko," a soft voice said. I looked up to see Koji standing in the doorway. He looked at me sympathetically and offered me his arm. Numbly, I accepted it and he led me out of the room and down the aisle. Soothingly, Koji whispered as we walked, "I know this isn't what you want but although Yoichi can be be a stubborn blockhead, he truly does care for you. I can personally guarantee that despite his faults, Yoichi will do anything to make you happy."

Mechanically, I nodded but when I saw his worried face I managed to muster a weak smile as he handed me off to Yoichi. Yoichi's face glowed in ecstasy as he led me up to the alter. The priest started the ceremony but I was too depressed to hear anything; it all seemed to pass in a blur.

"I do."

This jolted me back into reality a bit. Yoichi had said his vows, now the priest turned to me and started, "And do you, Reiko, take Yoichi as your lawfully wedded husband..." As the priest continued, I started to sweat and I grew pale, my hands started shaking and Yoichi squeezed my hands in an attempt to comfort me. My heart was pounding louder than a drum and I barely heard the priest say, "... As long as you both shall live?"

I gulped nervously and Yoichi gave me a smile full of encouragement, love, joy, and anticipation. _Maybe this won't be all bad... Hopefully._ I breathed in deeply, exhaled, and said, " I... I-"

"Stop!" Yoichi and I whipped our heads to the side to see Hunny, Mori, all the hosts, and my siblings standing just in side the doorway.

"Takashi!" I whispered, my eyes watering. Mori gazed at me with eyes full of desperation, anxiety, relief, and love.

"Reiko!" Yoichi pleaded urgently, tugging on my hands to gain my attention. "Please say 'I do,' please!" I stared at him blankly. "Remember what will happen if you don't!"

With a jolt, my senses came back and I glanced uncertainly between Mori and Yoichi. "I... I-I..."

Suddenly, I was swept off my feet and dazed, I looked up at Mori's gently smiling face. "I love you, Reiko!" He whispered.

Tears sprang from my eyes but a smile lit up my face as I threw my arms around his neck and said, "I love you too, Takashi!" Slamming my lips into Mori's, I french kissed him.

When we pulled apart, I looked at Yoichi who hung his head in disappointment. "Rei-chan, are you okay?" Hunny asked.

"What did this jerk do to you?!" The Hitachiin twins demanded, grabbing Yoichi.

"Kidnapping a girl, despicable!" Tamaki declared.

"I didn't kidnap her, she did this willingly," Yoichi said subdued.

"What's he talking about, Reiko?" Chizura asked.

"What's going on?" Yoite asked.

"Why does it look like you're about to get married?" Haruhi asked.

"Let Reiko speak," Mori said calmly as he took the veil off my head and the ring off my finger and handed them to Yoichi. "Reiko... What happened?"

I blinked a few times, registering what Mori had said, then panic spread across my face. "Yoichi! He kidnapped and beat Aika... Aika!" I gasped clutching Takashi's shirt. "We have to find her! She looked badly injured."

"It's okay, Rieko, she's okay, I have Aika right here." Tadashi said, elbowing his way through the crowd. A few tears slid down my face when I saw Aika in Tadashi's arms; she rubbed her eyes sleepily, she looked like she'd just woken up.

"She looks so hurt," I mumbled.

"No, she's not," Tadashi said light-heartedly. "Look!" He took a damp paper towel and wiped at some of the blood on her face; it came off immediately revealing undamaged skin. "It's just make-up," he said with a grin.

"B-but, he said that he'd discovered a plot by the people who kidnapped about raiding this party. He said that if I refused to marry him he wouldn't stop the raid and if that happened Aika would be kidnapped!"

Everyone else started laughing and Mori pressed my head against against his neck and kissed my forehead murmuring, "Reiko, sometimes you're too kind for your own good."

"What?" I asked bewildered.

"Rei-chan!" Hunny said with a smile. "All three of our families knew what they were planning and we had already taken care of them. There's no way only Yoichi would know about something that big!"

"So it was all a big bluff?" I asked, turning towards Yoichi with disbelief.

"Yes," he said with a nod. Yoichi looked at me with eyes full of love, regret, and resignation; then he said with a hint of disappointment and sorrow in his voice, "I never could hurt your sister so I gave her a sedative and had a make-up artist make her look beat-up. I had hoped that you would be distraught enough to over-look the shortcomings of my story and agree to marry me. The plan would have worked but," he said with a sheepish glance at the others. "They showed up and that's the end."

"Hey Rieko," the Hitachiin twins said with a laugh. "Did you know that they took the word gullible out of the dictionary?" My cheeks flamed red and the others laughed.

Clearing his throat, Yoichi grinned and said, "Well, Little Princess, that was my last attempt to make you mine. I know now that nothing I do will stop you from loving Mori; I'll leave you two in peace from now on."

"Thanks," I mumbled as Mori set me down and I wrapped my arms around his torso and pressed my head against his chest.

"Don't worry about this lug," Osamu said, slapping Yoichi on the back. "We'll take care of him!"

I watched Yoichi's friends lead him away and I sighed in relief. Mori wrapped an arm around my upper back and cupped my face with his hand. "Well, all's well that ends well," Kyoya said with a push of his glasses. "I believe that if we don't rejoin the party soon our absences will be considered rude."

The others nodded and headed towards the door and Takashi used his arm that was around my back to pull me tight against him for support, slowly leading me out of the room. "Come on, Takashi!" Hunny called ahead of us.

"... Go ahead of us... I'm taking Reiko home."


	27. A Final Question

**Hey guys, this is it, this is the last chapter of _The Nakahara Cast_! I'm sorry to spring this on you, I meant to warn you last chapter but I forget, sorry.**

 **This is bitter-sweet but now after 78 days, 50 reviews, 55 follows, 42 favorites, and 6,543 views I have finished this story; I want to thank everyone who has followed me long enough to read these words, especially anyone who was with me during my move which resulted in sporadic and very late updates. You guys are the best and I'll miss you!**

 **Now please, go ahead and read this final chapter.**

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"Guys, hurry up and get your shoes on, we're going to be late!" heaved a sigh as I danced anxiously in the entry, waiting for my siblings to get ready so we could head over to my high school for mine and Tadashi's graduation ceremony. I glanced nervously at the clock and fiddled with the skirt of my dress. It was a simple sleeveless white dress with black chevron stripes with a rounded neck line and a hem that reached two inches above the knee. It was skin tight to below the bust where there was a strip of transparent black lace, then the skirt cascaded gently down.

"We're going to be late!" Tadashi growled as he clomped down the steps, giving his tie one last tug.

"Tadashi, Reiko, you go on ahead, we'll follow in a bit!" Dad yelled from somewhere in the house.

"Okay! We're off!" Tadashi called, running out the door.

"Don't be late!" I yelled, following closely behind my brother.

We ran to our school at full speed. After slipping into our caps and gowns we joined the other graduates. "Hey look, the slow pokes finally arrived! Congrats on being late to graduate!" Atsuki said, slinging an arm over our shoulders.

"Are you trying to kill us before we graduate?" Tadashi asked playfully, pushing Atsuki off himself and onto me.

"Heed your own advice," I said with a cough as I pried Atsuki's arm off my throat.

"If you die, Rieko, I call all your graduation presents!" Yuki said raising her hand.

"Hey! I'm not dead, people!-"

"Wow, you only want her stuff, Yuki? What a surprise," Hanako commented.

"I know," Mikka responded with mock surprise. "I thought for sure that you'd call her boyfriend."

"Oh, that's right! Reiko, I call your boyfriend!"

Hanako and Mikka laughed as I said, "I'm not dead yet!"

"And aren't you forgetting something, hmmm?" Atsuki asked, slinging an arm around Yuki's neck and tilting her chin up; the two of them had started dating recently.

"Oh, he would just be a back up for when we got into fights, I wouldn't be serious with him," Yuki replied flippantly.

"Ahem," Miharu said, clearing his throat. "Can you two stop acting like twitter-patted fools for once?"

"Can all of you stop acting like fools or we're going to miss our own graduation ceremony," Hidaki said grumpily.

"Sorry," we chorused.

After this tha graduation ceremony past by in a blur. I faintly remember going to my seat and sitting down; the opening remarks went in one ear and out the other, I don't remember the speech at all. I do, however, remember that my family and the Ouran group seemed to be competing for the titles og Biggest Fools and Loudest Guests during the ceremony.

When the ceremony finally ended and we had received our diplomas, Tadashi and I made our way out onto the lawn where our family and friends were waiting for us. "Congrats grads!" The Hitachiin twins said as we approached.

"Let's see those diplomas," Hikaru said, leaning on his brother.

Tadashi and I held up our diplomas and the twins inspected them. Then Kaoru said, "It's just a piece of paper, nothing special."

With a sigh, the Hitachiins said indifferently, "What a let down!"

Tadashi laughed at their comment and I rolled my eyes and ignored them, or at least I tried to but Yoite commented. "They're right, it is such a let down. Here you labored through three years of high school and all you have to show for it is a measly piece of paper."

Fake sniffling, Chizura added, "I can;t believe you wasted three years of you life for a single piece of paper! I'm ashamed to be related to you."

I glared at the twins, all four of them, Then with a toss of my hair I said, "Let me know if you still feel this way in a few years when your the ones with nothing to show for your work but a plain old piece of paper."

The twins ignored me and kept talking so I brushed past them to talk with the others. "Congratulations Tadashi, congratulations Reiko!" Haruhi said, giving me a hug.

"Thanks," I said, hugging her back.

"Look, Kyoya, Haruhi has become more feminine since having a girl friend! Between this and the graduation, I feel so happy!" Tamaki said blowing his nose.

"Do I really look good in this?" Haruhi asked hesitantly, fingering her dress.

Tamaki's face exploded with a cloud of red as he answered, "Yes."

"Tamaki, will you stop hitting on Haruhi? We're here to celebrate Tadashi's and Reiko's graduation, not satisfy your vanity," Kyoya said.

"Did you see that?" Hikaru whispered.

"Tamaki's hitting on Haruhi!" Kaoru whispered.

"Has he no shame?" Chizura asked.

"He did it so naturally! He must do it often," Yoite added. "But what did we expect? We all know that Tamaki's a player."

"Oh, so that's what a player does," Haruhi said, eyeing Tamaki with disgust.

"Player! Player! Tamaki's a player!" Sotaru and Aika chanted.

"But that's not true!" Tamaki cried in frustration.

Everyone laughed and I turned away. "Congratulations, Rei-chan!" Hunny said, running up to me and giving me a hug.

"Thanks, Hunny," I said, hugging him back. "I can't believe we're all graduated now." (The Ouran ceremony was two days ago)

"I know! Isn't it exciting? Now we get to go off to college!"

"Yeah," I said less enthusiastically.

"congratulations, Reiko," dad said coming up to me and giving me a hug.

"Thanks dad," I responded.

Stepping back to look at me he said, "I can't believe my little girl's all grown up."

I blushed, "dad!"

"Aw, that's cute!" Hunny said; I blushed harder.

"Hey, Reiko," I turned around to see Yoichi standing awkwardly behind me. "Congratulations," he said, giving me a stiff hug.

"Thanks," I said softly as we quickly separated.

"Take care of yourself, I'll come and see you again when I'm ready to be just friends," Yoichi said with a sad smile.

"Okay," I said quietly, giving him one more small smile before he turned around and walked away.

"Wha!" I cried out as, without warning, I was lifted off the ground and spun 180 degrees. "Takashi!" I said happily, resting my hands on his shoulders as he kissed me then sat me down.

"Congratulations, Reiko," Mori said, brushing a stray piece of hair out of my eyes.

"Thanks!" I said happily, giving his hand a squeeze.

"Okay guys!" Dad said, raising his voice so that everyone could hear. "We have food and cake at our house for a small graduation party."

"You heard him, let's go!" Tadashi said, he'd already ditched his cap and gown and was now leading the charge home.

"You guys go on ahead," I called. "I'm going to take this off."

"I'll wait for you," Mori said.

"Okay," I said in acknowledgment as I ran into the school. I quickly took my stuff off and ran back outside. Mori offered me his hand and I took it with a grin. Hand-in-hand, we walked home.

Half way home, Mori broke the silence and said, "What are your plans?"

"You mean now that I've graduated?" I asked. Takashi nodded and I sighed. "Honestly, I'm not really sure. I know that if I go to college t will be a community college, save our money for a sibling that wants to go more than me. I decided that I'd think about it over the summer... And after I talked to you." I mumbled the last part and looked away as my cheeks reddened. Silence engulfed us for a few moments and we walked on in silence. I gazed at the sunset, the fiery red and oranges casting long dancing shadows on the ground when I felt a tug on my hand.

I stopped and turned around; I gave a little gasp when I saw Mori down on one knee, holding open a box with a ring in it. "... Will you marry me?"

I stared for a few seconds, stunned, then a smile broke out across my face and I whispered, "Yes!" I sunk down onto my knees and threw my arms around Mori as we kissed, bathed in the honey-glow of the sunset.

When we parted, Mori took my left hand in his and slipped a silver ring with a small single crystal in it onto my ring finger. I gingerly fingered the ring with a small smile in my face, then I turned to Mori with serious eyes and asked, "How soon do you want to marry?"

"Six months." He replied with serious eyes that matched my own.

"Where are we going to live?"

"In one of my family's vacation homes."

"What are we going to do to support ourselves?"

"I'll go to college and earn my law degree while working part-time with my father... Once I've earned my degree, Mitsukuni and I will work together to start our own business enterprise." Then he lifted up his hands and gently held my face as he softly said, "I'll make you the happiest girl in the world."

"Oh, Takashi," I murmured tenderly, "You already have!"

We kissed again then, hand-in-hand, we headed towards my house to announce the good news.

* * *

 **P.S. I don't care if you think the ending is unrealistic, this is a fictitious story, it's not supposed to be terribly realistic.**


End file.
